Shi no Me
by Zephyras
Summary: In a darker world, Haruno Sakura never became a ninja. Instead, a stoic girl named Yamaki Sasumi took her place. Silent unless spoken to and painfully polite, she pushes all away from her for fear of discovery. Because Yamaki Sasumi has a secret. AU, OCs.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I strongly suggest you do not read this fic if you are not up to date with the manga. Warning: Extreme violence, spoilers, and mentions of torture and child abuse.**

Prologue-

_It was in midsummer that she came to that place. It was a quiet night. No crickets were chirping and there was no wind that stirred the forest that surrounded it. It was completely silent. _

_She, of course, had waited for the guards to be lolled asleep by the intoxicating heat before approaching those old gates and running a gloved hand along the old wooden doors that had stood for so long. She stood there for a while, deep in thought. She wondered what was inside those gates. What the people were like, what the shops looked like, how the children were treated. It was all a mystery. _

_She had been through many villages before; all of them corrupt and filled to brim with sadness and hate. But this one felt different. It felt old, nothing more. She leaned her forehead against those doors and inhaled the scent of the old pine. It was an old village, all of them were, but for some reason she felt connected to this one. Like it was calling her. _

_She hesitated, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She carefully contemplated what she was doing. She knew that if she got to attached and stayed there, there was a greater chance she would be found. But what was she to do? She was sick of running, she had been running ever since she could remember. She was never a very confrontational person; she always preferred to compromise than to argue. Always preferred to stay silent rather than fight back. She saw very little point in making things complicated; her life was complicated enough. _

_Nothing had been simple since that day, a little more than three years ago. _

_Making her decision, Yamaki Sasumi slipped through the gates of Konoha. _


	2. The First Year

Chapter One-

Two Years Later

**Yamaki Sasumi woke up, as usual**, with tears in her eyes and a cold sweat all over her body. Breathing heavily, she leaned over and curled her arm around her knees, resting her forehead on her kneecaps. After her breathing steadied, she straightened, brushing her short hair out of her eyes, slipped out of bed, and got dressed. She pulled out six separate rolls of bandages and preceded to bandage both legs and arms as well as her feet. Trying not to wince as she used her left arm, she pulled on her dark green quarter sleeve shirt, long black shorts, dark blue standard shinobi sandals, a strange gray neck warmer that concealed her entire neck and dark purple gloves. She picked up her Konoha headband and stopped.

_" I'm really a shinobi now, huh." _

She tied the headband tightly around her forehead and attacked her shuriken holder to her shorts. Her vivid red hair got in her eyes again, and as she brushed it away her gloved fingers brushed over her unnaturally bright green eyes.

_" I'll never be **just **a shinobi with these eyes," _she thought, _"I'll be something else as well."_

Today was her first day as a Genin, she had passed the exam just yesterday and today would be assigned a sensei, as well as two other teammates who she would be working with for the rest of her career, unless she joined the ANBU. She would have to be extra careful, starting today. She wondered who she would be put on a team with. She really didn't care, as long as it wasn't Nara Shikamaru. She knew that he was almost twice as smart as she was and if anyone was to figure her out, it would be him. She knew that her teammates, whoever they were, would not be happy that she was on their team. She was just an average Kunoichi with average grades, and that was the way she wanted them to think of her, nothing more. She was silent unless someone asked her a question and just the stoic expression that never wavered on her face scared people. To them she was emotionless, the perfect shinobi.

_But not a real one._

She always addressed people by their last names with the suffix –san, which distanced her from people. She needed no attachments, she couldn't afford any. She grabbed her dark blue backpack filled with books and scrolls and walked out of her tiny apartment. She quietly slipped down the rickety staircase and into the alley below. She walked quickly through the worst neighborhood in the village, neither looking left nor right as she passed the homeless, the drunk, and the drug dealers. She couldn't be late, not that she ever was in the past. Her walk slowed as she exited her neighborhood and arrived at the Academy right on time to see Uzumaki Naruto, the loudest student in the entire school, fall lips first onto Uchiha Sasuke's mouth. Chaos ensured. She watched, keeping her face emotionless, slightly amused at their horrified expressions. A bunch of girls were about to attack him when their eyes met. He turned away as the Kunoichi descended upon him. But the one glance was enough. There was something wrong. He looked older, now, more mature. He knew. She swallowed. Someone had told him. She wondered if it had anything to do with the traitor Mizuki. Or the reason he had a headband on when she knew he failed the test. She inwardly sighed. Mizuki had told him about the Kyuubi. It wasn't a rational guess, but Sasumi had a feeling she was right. She was pulled out of her thoughts was Umino Iruka walked into the room, causing the class to quickly slip into their seats, and the girls to stop trying to kill Naruto. She then realized that she didn't have a seat and was forced to sit in the only seat available, between Naruto and Sasuke. She took her seat and waited patiently as her teacher called out the teams.

"…and Team Seven," called Iruka, causing Naruto to look up from where he had been napping on the table and Sasuke to shift ever so slightly, "Uzumaki Naruto, Yamaki Sasumi, and Uchiha Sasuke. Now Team Eig-" That was as far as he got before Naruto started yelling about Sasuke. Sasumi was surprised.

_"Do they even realize that they've put the people with the most problems all on one team?" _she thought incredulously. She caught Iruka's eye and sifted through his recent memories.

_She saw Mizuki standing before him, a sneer upon his face, ready to kill him. Then Naruto appeared with an expression of hatred that she had never seen upon his face before. _

"_You touch Iruka sensei, and I'll kill you!" he snarled, his eyes glinting red for a second. He moved his hands in a hand seal and suddenly hundreds of Kage Bushin appeared and began to attack Mizuki. When it was over he gave Naruto his headband and told him he had passed. At seeing Naruto's look of true happiness, she realized that it was the first time she had truly seen him happy. The memory changed and he was informing the Hokage on his decision to pass Naruto. Then he was walking through the hall on his way t-_

She stopped. She had seen enough.

"Now everyone will meet there new sensei in different rooms after lunch. Team One will be in room seventeen…"

"_Room thirty-five, right." _

The following day she walked into room thirty-five right on time and sat down in the nearest seat and began to read. Five minutes later, Sasuke walked in, looking slightly surprised that she was all ready there. Scowling slightly, he sat down in a chair across the room from Sasumi and stared out the window. Nearly ten minutes later, Naruto came crashing into the room, his spiky blond hair full of something that looked like spider webs.

"Gomene, sensei! I was-" he stopped, looking confused, "Hee? Where is he?"

"Obviously he's not here, moron," said Sasuke, looking annoyed.

"Shut up, bastard! How was I supposed to know? He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago!" snarled Naruto and the argument began. Sasumi almost finished her book before it was over. She inwardly sighed as she turned a page.

_"This is going to be a long day." _

After twenty minutes their sensei still hadn't showed up.

"Where the hell is he?" complained Naruto, "It's been hours!"

Sasuke looked, for once, like he wanted to agree with him, but scowled and said nothing. Naruto let his head fall and banged it on the desk.

"Ita! That hurt!"

Sasuke growled in annoyance, "Will you shut up for once!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out, but said nothing. Then he began to laugh manically. Sasumi raised her head from her book and raised her eyebrows as Naruto haphazardly exited his desk and stuck an eraser between the door and the wall. Sasuke looked unimpressed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in disdain, " That's not going to work you know."

"That's what you think, bastard!"

"Hn, moron."

"Hey yo-"

And at that moment Hatake Kakashi opened the door, causing the eraser to become unstuck and fall straight onto his gravity defying, gray hair. Sasuke raised his eyebrows in surprise and Naruto fell on the floor laughing.

"Well," he said jovially, "I must say that my first impression of you is-I hate you."

Sasuke and Naruto both looked nonplussed, and Sasumi took this opportunity to skim through her new sensei's memories.

_A man with gray hair like his lay on the floor, a sword through his stomach, he screamed, begging for him to get up._

_"Otousan! Otousan! OTOUSAN!"_

_The man didn't move. The memory changed. He was standing before a man with blond spiky hair that she recognized as the future Yondaime Hokage. There were two other children his age by his side. A girl with long brown hair, and a tall boy with black spiky hair and goggles. It changed again. The black haired boy was crushed under a gigantic rock. _

"_Obito!" he cried._

"_Hey…Kakashi…"_

"_Obito! Don't move, I'll-"_

_"I'm sorry Kakashi…you know I was thinking…about a present I should give you…don't worry…it won't be …useless trash…"_

_"Obito," he choked out, "I-"_

_"It's these eyes of mine. The Sharingan." he gestured to his red eyes that were speckled with black, "Rin, you'll make the transfer…won't you…"_

_It changed again, the brown haired girl Rin lay dead. Her was blood soaking the ground, her eyes wide open in fear._

_A huge fox, snarled, and tore buildings apart._

_The Yondaime lay dead on the ground, his face peaceful._

_More memories flashed by that she wouldn't make sense of until later._

_She watched as tears flowed down his face and as he punched the wall in anger._

_"Why-"_

"Sasumi?"

She blinked, tearing herself away from his memories.

"Yes?" she said evenly.

"We're going to talk somewhere else," he said.

She followed them up to the top of the building, where he asked them about themselves, their likes, dislikes, and dreams. She zoned out as soon as Naruto began sprouting out something about ramen. She knew a lot about her new teammates, there really wasn't much point in listening. Finally it was her turn.

Naruto was looking at Sasuke strangely and she guessed he had said something about Itachi.

"My name is Yamaki Sasumi."

_That's a lie._

"I don't have any likes or dislikes."

_That's not true._

"Nor do I have any dreams or ambitions."

_Sometimes I don't even know why I keep on living._

There was an awkward silence as her entire team stared at her.

"Well," said her sensei, after a while, " Tomorrow we are going to be doing some training."

Naruto perked up.

"Training, really? What kind of training?" he asked excitedly.

"Survival Training," he answered proudly.

Naruto looked confused, and led to Kakashi taking the next five minutes explaining what it was to Sasuke's apparent annoyance. Needless to say by the end of the day, he looked like he wanted to kill Naruto right where he sat.

"Oh, one more thing," Kakashi said before they left, "Don't eat breakfast."

Naruto immediately started to complain and she and Sasuke walked off in their respective directions.

_"Well that'll be easy, I don't eat breakfast anyway."_

She walked off in the direction of her part-time job at a nearby restaurant. She worked as a the cook's assistant, which meant that she cleaned up every single mess in the kitchen. Tanaka Haruko liked her because she was quiet and a hard worker, which was the only reason she would hire a minor. At first she had complained about her because she refused to take off her gloves even when scrubbing the floors and only used her right hand, but after she saw her work she never voiced a complaint again. Sasumi didn't particularly like her job, but before today it was her only income. She wouldn't be able to quit though, her shinobi's wages alone wouldn't cover all her costs. However, the bright side was that with the extra money she would be able to start saving up for a better apartment. With that in mind she entered the shop by the back door, slipped on her apron, and began to work.

**Hatake Kakashi was a slightly annoyed. **He probably had the strangest team ever. First there was the Kyuubi kid who seemed to be obsessed with ramen, then the Uchiha, who looked like he wanted to kill someone, and the strange girl who just sort of sat there. He had to say he was surprised when he heard that Naruto wanted to be the Hokage, he had expected something about ramen, and was also surprised by Sasumi's response. He could understand if she was too embarrassed to say her dream, but she just bluntly stated that she didn't have one. That was kind of weird. He bumped into Asuma and Kurenai, as they were already finished meeting their teams before he even got to the room, and they had said that there teams weren't that bad. But then again, they didn't have Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamaki Sasumi. Sighing he flipped out his book and began to read.

**When Sasumi got to the training area the next day,** she was not surprised that she was the first one there. Apparently, Kakashi was late for everything. A few minutes later, Naruto and Sasuke trudged up, glaring daggers at each other. She leafed through a book on healing jutsu and began to commit it to memory. Almost and hour later Kakashi showed up and they began. Kakashi explained that they were after two bells and the one who didn't get the bell would be tied to a post and not be able to eat lunch. Naruto, of course charged at Kakashi the first chance he got. Sasumi didn't really know what her sensei was thinking, but based on his past it probably has to do with teamwork. Which was something this team certainly lacked. She briefly wondered if they'd be sent back to the academy, before watching from a not to inconspicuous bush the scene below. She watched as Kakashi tricked Naruto into a trap and pulled Sasuke into the ground. She inwardly sighed as she sensed him sneaking up behind her.

"Sasumi-kun…!"

She drew her kunai and launched herself at him, trying her best to act like she was working hard when it would be disastrous if she did. After a few thrusts he apparently got bored moved his hands in a hand seal that Sasumi recognized as a genjutsu. She almost panicked, but then decided to fake the symptoms of this particular genjutsu, which in this case was dizziness and eventual loss of consciousness. As he made his escape, Sasumi contemplated what she was to do. Obviously, he had no intention of going easy on them, which meant than neither of her teammates would be able to get the bells. And which also meant that she couldn't get them either. But would he really send them back to the academy? For some reason Sasumi doubted it. A loud ringing noise echoed across the woods.

_"There goes the bell," _she thought dully and walked over to meet the rest of her teammates. Naruto was already tied to the post; what had he done this time Sasumi did not care to know.

He proceeded to explain that they would not be needing to back to the academy because they were so bad that they should just give up being shinobi. She raised her eyebrows in surprise wondering if he was really being serious. Her teammates, however, did not take it this well.

"WHAT!?" yelled Naruto, struggling against the robes. Sasuke glared at Kakashi and looked like he would like nothing better than to cut off his head. Which he attempted, but to no avail. She spaced out, staring at his mask listlessly as he began to talk about the importance of teamwork, in a last attempt to look like she was paying attention. She did start, however, when he said he'd give them another chance. He told them he would give them another chance after they ate lunch and they were not to let Naruto eat. Sasumi raised her eyebrows in surprise. What was the point of not letting Naruto eat? Unless…

Kakashi confirmed her thoughts as he walked away from the scene.

_"Great," _she thought dully, _"He's trying to make us work together." _

Naruto grinned that fake grin of his, stating that he didn't need food. He stopped, however, in mid-sentence when his stomach started to grumble. Sasuke looked him over and then moved to her, as she had not made any move to open her bag.

"Where's your lunch?" he asked her.

Surprised, she turned to him and said in her usual monotone voice: "I don't have one."

He exhaled in annoyance and surprised her and Naruto again.

"Here, you two eat this," he handed them his bento.

Naruto stared before starting to protest.

"W-wait, didn't Kakashi-sensei say that I wasn't supposed to eat, if he catches us h-"

"We're supposed to work together, remember, moron. You two won't be able to work properly if don't eat."

Sasumi looked at him in surprise.

_"Is he really serious?"_

"Here, take it," he told Sasumi.

She took it with her bad hand, wincing inwardly, and picked up the chopsticks with her good hand and fed herself and Naruto. She knew for a fact that Kakashi was watching and hoped she was right about them working together. She was rewarded when Kakashi burst forth from his hiding place, scaring Naruto and Sasuke and told them they had passed. And to meet them tomorrow at the same place. Sasumi made a mental note to bring a lot of books. Sasuke got up, completely recovered from the shock of Kakashi rushing at them, and followed Kakashi out of the training area. Naruto yelled after them.

"Oi, bastard, are you just going to leave me here?! Oi!"

Sasumi inwardly sighed and untied him. When she was done, she looked up and noticed that Naruto was looking at her strangely.

"Is there a problem?" she asked softly.

Naruto reddened in embarrassment, "Uh…no," he turned away, " Thanks."

She nodded in assent and picked up her stuff and followed him out.

The next few months went by quickly, mostly filled with small missions like weeding someone's garden or finding a lost pet. Naruto had become quieter, probably because of the hours that they waited for Kakashi. He sometimes argued with Sasuke, but most of the time just stared out at the scenery. Sasumi didn't particularly enjoy these missions, but she always felt an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach when her teammates greeted her. The only mission she hated was when they went to the Wave Country. That was pure torture. She was forced to stay up all night and had to use her bad hand while eating in order to not arose any suspicion. She also knew she had her teammates curiosity as to if she actually had any emotions at all. When the two Chuunin working for Gato as well as Momochi Zabuza attacked even Kakashi had lost his cool. But she had just stood there, stoic as ever, doing her job. She knew she shouldn't have been the first one to reach the top of the trees during their training, but she was just so frustrated that she could never do anything. Probably the worst part of the trip was when Naruto accidentally knocked her bag over.

_Flashback_

_"Aaah! Sorry Sasumi!! Here, I'll just put everything back in…" Naruto haphazardly stuffed her collection of books, explosive packets, as well as other things back into her bag. She inwardly sighed and then tensed as his hands found something she didn't want them to._

_"Hey, what's this?" he picked up the beautifully polished bamboo flute. Sasuke looked over in curiosity. She wished that Kakashi was here to tell him not to mess with her stuff, but he was outside, leaving them alone in Tazuna's house._

_"Hey Sasumi, can you play this?" he asked, she could feel both his and Sasuke's stares._

_"No," she said almost inaudibly, but they heard._

_"Aww. Then why do you carry it around with you?"_

_She bit the inside of her lip, pondering her answer. Why did she carry it around?_

_"I used to be able to play it," she hesitated, before speaking again. "But I can't anymore."_

_"Huh, what is th-"_

_Kakashi walked in cutting him off._

_"Time to go. Naruto, stop messing around with Sasumi's stuff."_

_Even as Naruto mumbled excuses, she didn't feel his or Sasuke's stare leave her for a long time._

_End of Flashback_

But what had scared her the most, happened during their fight with Zabuza and Haku. It wasn't the fact that the Kyuubi's chakra had started to leak out of the seal, or that for a second she thought that Sasuke had died. In the last seconds of the boy, Haku's life, see saw his eyes. It always annoyed her when people wore masks that covered their eyes. She felt vulnerable, because she see couldn't see who they were, what they wanted, or if they knew anything about her. But in those last few seconds she saw his life flash by. And it scared her. Because in his eyes, she saw herself. She also saw herself in Naruto and Sasuke and even Kakashi, but that was different. They weren't dead. They hadn't died standing between the person they loved the most and death. And in that moment she wondered if maybe…

_Maybe, this is my fate too._

And somehow, Sasumi didn't mind that much.

_Flashback_

_She crouched in front of his grave, her gloved hand burrowed partly in the freshly turned soil. It was night, just like that night almost three years ago. Completely silent. _

_When he died, he was smiling._

_She exhaled lightly, running her hand over the soil, feeling it even through her glove. _

"_Goodbye, Haku. I'm sorry."_

_End of Flashback_

**A/N: I know this chapter is mostly a recap of the manga, but it gets better. Also, if this is incredibly Mary-Sue-ish, please tell me, 'cause I honestly can't tell. Please review and tell me what you think!**


	3. Ramen, Pajamas, and Doctors

Chapter Two-

**That night Sasumi dreamed of the future**, not the past. She sat up straight in bed biting back a scream. She wrapped her right arm around her chest in a weak attempt to steady her breathing. Images flashed through her mind, and she shook her head to block them out. It was almost funny that she feared the future more than the past, considering her past. Instead of her breathing calming down it sped up. She was hyperventilating and she knew it.

_"Got to get out of here," _she thought as she pulled on her bandages, gloves, and neck warmer. She stumbled out of her apartment as quietly as she could, afraid she would wake up the landlord. She practically ran out of the area, thanking the gods that she didn't make any noise in her sleep. She didn't know where she was going, but she wasn't all that surprised when she found herself at the base of the tallest tree in Konoha, the one right outside her former academy. She was about to reach for the lowest branch when she heard a sound behind her.

**Uchiha Sasuke's yell echoed around his empty neighborhood. **He sat up, resting his head in his hands, cursing himself for being so weak. Rubbing the tears off his face, he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror at his face which looked so much like his brother's. He looked away from the mirror, turning on the sink he scrubbed his face clean, remembering:

_Foolish, little brother. _

**Stop it!**

_I've lost all hope in this pathetic clan._

**Shut up!**

If you wish to kill me, yo-

**Stop it! STOP IT!**

_How weak, crying like a baby._

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, his voice echoing off the tile walls. Suddenly, the room seemed to small, he had get out. He half ran out of the house, only stopping to grab his shoes.

**Uzumaki Naruto woke up with a crash.** He found himself on the hard floor of his apartment. Shivering, he stood up, waiting for the sounds of the other people in the complex to start pounding on his door or yell at him. When none came, he gave a sigh of relief, grabbed his orange jacket, and quietly tip-toed out of the complex. When ever he had nightmares he would go to that old wooden swing. He knew it didn't really make sense, as the swing itself was a reminder of his childhood, but he felt safe there all the same. He hadn't has the best of childhoods, with everyone hating him. The word 'Monster' came to his mind but he shook his head to get rid of it.

Especially if the economy was bad or something, he would get beat up a lot. He hated it and wondered why the villagers hated him so much, but never understood why until Mizuki told him about the Kyuubi. He even thought it was normal before he was enrolled in the academy and noticed that no one picked on the kids there. Then he thought he must have done something horribly wrong to deserve it. How stupid he was then. His face contorted in self-disgust, but quickly stopped that line of thought, he wasn't going to spend his life wallowing in self-pity. The past was the past and there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to move forward and not dwell on things he couldn't change. If, no, when he became Hokage he would show them all. He would-

Naruto froze, he had just turned a corner and was facing the academy. The building looked normal enough. Moonlight glinted off the sign that read 'Shinobi Academy,' which was swaying in a gentle breeze. No, Naruto was not looking at the building, he was looking at the people who stood on the two different paths that led to other neighborhoods. Sasumi was dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and black flannel pants. Her eyebrows were raised in surprise, but besides this she looked quite as she usually did. Sasuke wore a simple navy blue tee-shirt and white shorts. His eyes were so wide the looked like they were going to pop out and Naruto was aware that his mouth was wide open.

_"What the hell are they doing here?!"_

**Sasuke stared, not completely sure if he was seeing things or not. **Naruto's mouth was wide open in shock and he had never seen Sasumi's eyebrows so high on her forehead before. Sasuke quickly assessed that none of them had expected any one else here. There was an awkward silence which lasted about thirty seconds.

"Well…uh…this is…interesting," Naruto said after a while, "Ano…"

There was another awkward silence as he trailed off, obviously not knowing what to say. It was Sasumi who made the first move. Ignoring them completely, she gripped the lowest branch and pulled herself into the trees branches. Using chakra, she walked all the way to the top and sat on the highest branch. She stared off into the horizon and didn't look like she was going to come down anytime soon. Quickly Sasuke made his decision, he walked approximately a quarter way up the tall trunk and mimicked Sasumi and sat on the branch, leaning his back against the thick trunk. A wave of calm swept over him and the breeze tickled his face as he relaxed against the tree. He heard a clambering noise below and then a creak as Naruto presumably seated himself on the old swing below and scrambled around trying to make himself comfortable. Sasuke felt more peaceful than he ever had in his life, just sitting on a tree branch outside of the academy he once attended. He didn't think of anything in particular, as he simply watched the same breeze that was tickling his chin, cause leaves to rustle of in the distance. In the past whenever he had felt depressed or lonely he would go sit on a bridge on the outskirts of the village. The bridge that he had proved to his father that he had the same potential as his brother, that he would become a great ninja and that he would make him proud. That same bridge where he had sat, staring into the water, tears coursing down his face to fall into the water below him. That same bridge where he swore that he would do anything to kill Itachi. The tree felt different than the bridge where he had sat remembering his past. He felt alone there, drowning in his loneliness and depression. But now he didn't feel alone. It was a feeling he couldn't describe. He felt his teammates presence and suddenly he didn't feel alone anymore. Smiling slightly he drifted off to sleep. He was so tired he didn't even stop to think of why they were here in the first place.

He woke the next morning, feeling slightly disoriented.

_"What the hell is this? A tree? Wait, what-" _he lost his balance and slipped off the branch.

_Oh, shit._

He hit the ground with a crash, cursing himself for picking a branch so high.

"Sa-Sasuke?"

He turned around to see the sleepy face of Naruto. Naruto rubbed his eyes, yawning, and slid off the swing.

"Are you okay?"

He glared at him and said nothing.

"Geez, I was just asking," the blond said, yawning again, "What time is it?"

"About 6:30," said a quiet voice from behind him.

Sasuke turned around slowly, rubbing his side and holding back a grimace of pain. Sasumi stood at the base of the tree and as Sasuke looked closer he noticed that she looked tenser than usual.

"6:30!" yelped Naruto, glaring at Sasuke, "You bastard, you woke me up!"

Sasuke suppressed to urge to roll his eyes, "You moron. You think I fell ten feet out of a tree just to wake _you_up?!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, now completely awake and was about to make a retort when Sasumi's quiet voice cut in, "What time do we have to meet Hatake-sensei today?" she asked. Sasuke was sure that she knew and had only asked to stop him and Naruto from fighting. The blond scratched his head, trying to remember, "Hmm…I think it was about…" his eyes widened in realization, "7:00," he finished. Then he brightened, "Hey, I got a good idea, since Kakashi-sensei is going to be late anyway, how about we go out for ramen!

Sasuke groaned audibly, "Moron, don't talk about ramen this early in the morning, you're going to give me a headache."

When he looked at Naruto again, he was wearing that smug smile of his that annoyed him so much.

"Not a morning person, eh, bastard."

He glared at Naruto, but said nothing. There was an awkward silence.

"Alright," he said, looking anywhere but Naruto's eyes, "Let's just get out of here."

"Wait," said Naruto, a completive look on his face, "Shouldn't we get our stuff first?"

Sasuke really didn't care that he was wearing his pajamas and he doubted either of his teammates did.

"We never use any of that stuff anyway," he said, "Let's just go."

The three of them walked in silence over to the ramen shop. The topic of last night immediately became taboo and as Sasuke sat down he realized that none of them had any money.

"Oi, moron, how are we going to pay for this?" he asked.

Naruto didn't even look up as he looked over the menu idly. Sasumi tensed slightly.

"I have an account here," he explained, "Since I come here so often, I just pay them once a month an they just take money out of my account every time I eat here. I suppose I'll cover you for today. However," he narrowed his eyes and glared at him, "Don't think this is going to happen again."

Sasuke was not in the least surprised and he glared right back, but didn't say anything. It was seriously too early in the morning. Why would Kakashi want them so early? After they ordered, Sasuke glanced over at Sasumi and he thought that she looked slightly uncomfortable. His suspicions were confirmed when, after they ate, she told Naruto that he needn't pay for her.

"Nah, It's fine," he told her, "It's not that expensive."

She still looked uncomfortable, but let it go. Naruto ordered another and asked them if they wanted seconds. Sasumi declined and Sasuke decided that if the blond was paying, why not? Naruto was in the middle of his third bowl when Kakashi walked in.

**Kakashi stood in the middle of the bridge, **looking at his watch, which read 7:30. It was pretty good for him and he was slightly annoyed as to why his team wasn't there. He could understand if Naruto wasn't there, but Sasuke and Sasumi? He summoned Pakkun and found that they were north of the bridge, which was downtown Konoha. He heard them before he saw them and was surprised to hear Sasuke's voice from inside Ichiriku's. What the hell?

"Okay, moron that's enough. You're going to make yourself sick!" Sasuke's clipped voice rang out. Kakashi was even more surprised as he heard Sasumi.

"I think you should listen to Uchiha-san, Uzumaki-san. We should be leaving soon," her monotone voice sounded a little more like a normal person's voice.

"Okay, okay. Just give me a second," came Naruto's voice, "I just need to finish this bowl."

Kakashi walked in and barely succeeded in willing his jaw _not_ to drop. His entire team, which included Sasuke and Sasumi, was sitting in what appeared to be their pajamas, eating ramen. He blinked and raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done to my team?"

Naruto snorted in laughter, which resulted in a coughing fit. Sasuke scowled and blushed lightly, while Sasumi didn't even quirk an eyebrow, as usual.

"Team Seven was supposed to meet half an hour ago, where were you? And why are you wearing your pajamas?"

A perverted thought came to mind, but he ignored it, waiting for one of them to answer.

"We decided… to go out to…eat, because you're…always late," said Naruto, in-between bites.

"You didn't answer my second question," Kakashi said, wondering how in the hell Naruto convinced them to do all this. Naruto merely shrugged and swallowed the rest of the noodles.

"Thanks, oji-san," he said to the man behind the counter and handed her bowl to him with one hand and wiped his mouth with the other.

"We felt like it," he said and would say no more on the subject.

Kakashi inwardly sighed, and decided it was hopeless.

"So," said the blond, as they exited the ramen shop, "What are we doing today?"

Sasumi walked, exhausted, to her apartment after a long day of chasing someone's pet mice across an abandoned barn and scrubbing the floors at her other job. Seriously, what kind of person wanted mice _that_ badly? When she reached her building, she was about to walk up the stairs when a voice stopped her.

"Yamaki," he said, leering at her slightly, "The price per week has just gone up. Starting now. I'll need twice as much as you usually pay."

She froze. Twice as much! Was he insane? She turned slowly to face him, intent on finding what caused this.

"Why-" she started evenly but never finished.

"Now," he growled dangerously, "Before I throw your ungrateful ass out."

She walked calmly upstairs and scooped her entire savings from her wallet and gave it to him.

"Thank you," he said smiling evilly, "Now that wasn't that hard, was it?"

She refused to answer him and walked upstairs and collapsed in her bed. She was in deep trouble. She had no money left now which meant she wouldn't be eating in a while. She quickly did the calculations in her head and found that combining her paychecks she would have just enough money for the rent. But only for the rent. This was not good.

Suddenly she gasped and wrapped her arm around her thin body. She often got phantom pains like this, but thankfully they were mostly at night when she was alone. Sasumi hated to think what would happen if they happened during a mission. She gritted her teeth and screwed her eyes shut against the pain. As another wave of pain came over her, she slipped into unconsciousness.

When she awoke it was still dark and her body ached all over. She felt a strange metallic liquid in her mouth, and she spat the blood out onto the floor. Her head ached as she automatically reached for her pajamas, right after she had finished pulling them on she realized that she hadn't planned on staying here in the first place and dumped her clothes in a bag and snuck down the stairs and out into the night. When she got to the tree, she was surprised to see that Naruto was already there. His head lay against his hands which gripped the rope tightly and he swung slightly in the breeze. He was in his pajamas, but a bag lay beside his feet. She quickly climbed the tree and fell fast asleep before Sasuke even arrived.

It when on like this for a few weeks, they would meet every night by the tree and only then would they be able to fall asleep. Sasuke had taken to tying his hand to a kunai, which he stuck in the tree, for fear of falling again. They never talked about it and each morning they would go change and then meet wherever Kakashi wanted them to or if they didn't have a mission they would go there separate ways. Sasumi knew they had nightmares, and she wondered if they knew she had them too.

But the fact that she was working twelve hours a day and not eating was beginning to take its toll. She was forced to warp extra bandages around her arms to make them look larger because if she didn't they looked like sticks. Despite the fact that she was getting more sleep than she had had for seven years, she had huge circles under her eyes and her ribs were beginning to stick through her shirt, which resulted in her having to slouch making her look even smaller. Sometimes she felt so sick that she would barely make it too her bed before passing out, only to wake up hours alter after another nightmare or flashback. But she refused to ask for help or stop working the long hours after her missions. If she didn't she would be thrown out of her apartment, then she would have no address which would result in her not getting any money at all. She thanked any gods that were out there that she had endurance for this kind of thing and was able to stay on her feet twice as long as a normal starving twelve year-old her age. Because she wore so many clothes and showed no skin besides her face, it was easy to fool her teammates into believing she was perfectly fine. They only thing they asked about was the fact that her face seemed a lot paler than usual, she brushed it off and insisted she was fine, leaving them no chance to argue. She was also noticing that not eating was having strange effects on her mind, she found it difficult to pay attention whenever Kakashi started describing a mission and often felt strange craving which involved doing things she never even thought of before. Along with her body she was slowly losing her mind. However, the only thing she had left, her pride, refused to tell any one or ask for help. About two weeks after her rent when up, she found she no longer could use her chakra, which made it impossible to climb the tall branches of the tree. Two days later she stopped coming to the tree, in fact she stopped waking up in the middle of the night all together. She would come home and collapse on her bed and fall into a dreamless sleep. Every morning was torture as she pulled herself out of bed and haphazardly stumbled out the door as she had stopped wearing her pajamas and just stayed in her day clothes. Her body hardly collected any moisture so she didn't sweat at all, therefore, she didn't have to wash her clothes. Her teammates looked at her strangely after she stopped coming to the tree, but made no comment. Almost a month after she stopped eating it happened.

They had just finished a mission which involved escorting an old lady from one end of the village to another. They were walking back to the center of the village when Sasumi's stomach clenched tightly. She automatically wrapped her arm around it, biting her lip in an effort to stop herself from making any noise. Her teammates, who were slightly ahead of her didn't notice anything. Blood trickled down her chin as she fought to stay conscious. Every nerve in her body burned and all she could think of was how she wanted it to stop. At this point she didn't care if she died. She heard Naruto's questioning voice and then coughed out a mouthful of blood. She heard him yell and then she saw a flash of light and then it all went black.

**Naruto stared in horror as his teammate crumpled to the ground. **Sasuke and Kakashi whirled around at his yell. He fell to his knees and shook her in a weak attempt to wake her up.

"Sasumi! Sasumi! Oi, Sasumi!"

Kakashi knelt down beside him started to pick her up.

"Naruto, calm down," he said, "Listen, you need to tell me wh-" he froze, holding Sasumi in a half-way seated position, "-at happened," he said slowly. His eyes went wide and he stared down at her limp form.

"Oh, hell," he breathed.

"What happened?" Sasuke said, "Oi, what-"

Kakashi cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"We need to get her to the hospital," he said softly, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, "Come on."

Naruto would have questioned, but the strange closed look on his sensei's face stopped him. He and Sasuke exchanged a glance and off they went. While they waited for the doctor, Sasuke asked Kakashi what was going on, but he didn't answer. Finally, a woman with short black hair and a doctor's uniform walked in. She had glasses on and was barely taller than Sasuke.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked looking curiously at Sasumi. When Kakashi didn't answer, Naruto found himself answering her.

"We were on our way back from a mission and she fainted," he explained, aware that he was talking faster than normal.

"Hmm," said the doctor, "Has she been acting unusual lately? Like quieter than usual or something?"

He and Sasuke exchanged a glance, but said nothing. The doctor sighed.

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with her?" she said.

"I think you'd better see for yourself," said Kakashi quietly and handed Sasumi's limp form over to the doctor. The doctor looked puzzled, but when she had Sasumi completely in her arms, her eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my God," she said quietly, turning to face Kakashi, "How old is she?"

"About twelve or thirteen."

Naruto was annoyed and by the look on Sasuke's face, he was too.

"Will someone tell us what the hell is going on here?" he said loudly.

The doctor didn't answer, but asked him a question instead, "When was the last time you saw her eat?" she asked him.

Naruto was confused. What kind of question was that? He scratched his, head trying to remember, "Well, Sasumi never brings a lunch and on most missions we don't eat breakfast or dinner so…" he trailed off realizing what the doctor was getting at, "Holy shit. I haven't seen her eat in about a month!"

"Yes," said the doctor, quietly, "She weighs...very little."

Naruto felt sick. Why hadn't Sasumi been eating? The doctor headed out the door.

"I need to take her to a room, wait here until I'm done."

She left them in a horrified silence. Sasuke glanced at him and Naruto shook his head slightly.

_"What the hell is going on here?" _was the only thought that ran through Naruto's mind. About half and hour later the doctor returned to the room. Naruto stared at her, was it just his imagination or did she look paler than she did before?

"You may see her now," she said, her voice slightly quieter than usual. She led them to a white room on the second floor. Sasumi lay in a large white bed which made her look smaller than usual. She was wearing a hospital gown, but was still wearing the strange bandages around her arms, her gloves, and that weird thing around her neck. Naruto looked questioningly at the doctor but decided to say nothing.

Suddenly he realized that he had never seen Sasumi asleep before. Even on their trip in the Wave Country, when they all shared the same room, she always went to sleep after him and woke up before he was up.

"She's very lucky that you brought her here now," she said suddenly, "A few more days and she would have been dead."

Naruto's eyes widened as he turned toward her, "Seriously?"

The doctor nodded, "It takes about a month of not eating to kill a person, she hasn't eaten in about three and a half weeks. Also," she looked uncomfortable, "has anything like this happened before? Like her not eating or…uh…maybe something else?"

Naruto blinked, "Err…Well, she never brings a lunch," he said lamely.

Sasuke shook his head and Kakashi narrowed his eyes

"What are you getting at?" their sensei said.

The doctor scratched the back of her neck nervously, "Okay, by the state of her body she hasn't eaten in three and a half weeks right? And you said you hadn't noticed anything different until now?" She hesitated, "Well, that's…not normal. Adolescents, especially, need extra food and nutrients because they grow so fast. And while most people don't die until a month has gone by, they usually collapse within a few days. And those are adults. Adolescents would succumb faster. You see what I'm saying?"

When they all looked blankly at her she sighed, "Okay what I'm saying is that…something like this has happened before. What I'm saying is that she is probably used to not eating a lot and that is why she was able to last so long. Understand?"

"So you mean that Sasumi is used to being starving?" he asked slowly

"Yes, exactly," she said, "I suggest you speak to her parents, as they obviously haven't been taking care of her," she said this with a look of complete disgust on her face.

"_Parents?"_ he thought, and he looked at Kakashi, "Ano…does Sasumi even have any parents?" He had always assumed Sasumi didn't have any parents, though now that he thought about it that didn't really make sense.

Kakashi scratched his chin, "I don't think so, on her application to the academy, I believe she put that she didn't have any."

The doctor, looked at him strangely, "Wait, if this girl doesn't have any parents then why isn't she on the list of orphans under the care of Konoha?"

"List?" Sasuke asked, looking confused, "What list?

The doctor sighed again, "The village has a list of orphans that they pay the finances of until they become of age. Konoha pays the rent, food costs, and clothes cost of children who don't have parents or a guardian," she paused and dug a piece of paper out of her pocket, "Here's a copy of it."

She handed it to Kakashi and Naruto stood on his toes to see. He saw about twenty names on the list his and Sasuke's included. But no Sasumi.

"Well," said the doctor, "She probably didn't have enough money to buy food, or something like that," she paused, "But wouldn't she tell you?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I can't imagine her saying anything," he said, his eyes traveling to the hospital bed.

"Are you sure nothing like this has happened before?" the doctor asked again.

They all shook their heads, "Alright, she should wake up in a few days but it will take about a month for her to recover. I'll contact you when she wakes up," she motioned for them to leave and Naruto walked out half in a daze.

_"Why didn't she say anything?"_ he thought, but could not find an answer.

**A/N: Yeah, I mean to my characters, it's a problem, I know. Next chapter you'll find a bit more about Sasumi and the doctor, so if you review,I'll post. Chapter Four will probably be the start of the Chuunin Exam, but don't worry, eventually the fic will go off in a totally different direction. **


	4. Of Scars and Hatred

Chapter Three-

**Hanada Michiko prided herself on being a sensible woman. **She was an early riser and liked to read nonfiction books. She had been this way for almost ten years since that horrible incident. She had been a doctor for almost fifteen years now and had seen the most terrible injuries and was quite confident that she could handle anything. This, however, was before she started to take care of a one Yamaki Sasumi.

A standard procedure in Konoha's hospital was that each patient, no matter they're state, should be given a room only for themselves and a standard hospital garment to wear. If the patient was unconscious or unable to get this garment on, then the staff would do it for them. Michiko, being a sensible woman, was used to undressing patients and thought nothing of it. A fact that would haunt her for the rest of her career. After she had assessed that the girl had fainted of lack of food, she immediately assumed the girl was a victim of anorexia. But then as she was carrying her to her room, she started to notice a few things that she had not noticed before. For one, the only skin the girl showed was her face. Most twelve year old girls, no matter the occupation, wanted to show as much skin as was decent. These were the type of girls that cared about their weight.

When she got to the room she also realized that most anorexics wouldn't eat for a short intervals, then eat and then stop eating again, as where this girl had not eaten for almost a month straight. Shaking her head softly, she pulled out a hospital gown and began to undress the girl. As soon as she removed the gloves, she knew there was something wrong. The hand was bony, horribly bony, like a normal starved persons should be. It wasn't that that made her stop. It was what the girls skin looked like.

Tiny jagged scars covered the entire expanse of her hand. She automatically reached and pulled the bandage off her bony arm. Huge gashes and puncture wounds had been inflicted here, leaving grotesque scars. Some parts of her arm were black and looked like they had been burned with fire or some kind of acid Michiko didn't know. She looked down and saw that the rest of her limbs were also bandaged and her neck was completely covered. She had seen scars before, but nothing like this. These weren't just regular scars, or even child abuse, it looked like…like…

Torture 

Michiko realized that she was shaking. She mentally slapped herself.

_"Get a grip on yourself, Hanada. You have a job to do."_

She willed herself to pull the other bandages off revealing more scars, more burns. As she pulled off the girls shirt, she had to clap her hand to her mouth to avoid making any sound. Her entire chest was covered in tiny puncture holes and her stomach had huge gashes marks. It looked like she had been stuck with a hundred needles. Her legs looked like pieces had been cut out of them and her feet were almost totally black. Tears spilled out of her eyes and she quickly put the hospital gown on her and stumbled backward.

_"Oh my God! Oh my God!"_

She didn't know how long she stood there, shaking and crying, but she came to a conclusion. The girl's scars were old, she had no wounds that were inflicted on her in about the past three years. Had her parents done this to her? But why had they stopped? Abusing children or spouses was an addiction, she had once read in a book, parents rarely stopped. Then maybe she was an orphan. She wiped her eyes and picked up the list of orphans from an office downstairs. She remembered that the blond haired kid had referred to the girl as 'Sasumi,' and scanned the list for her. No 'Sasumi.'

So she was still living with her parents? Or maybe she had ran away? That would explain why she had almost starved to death and had no recent scars or wounds. Now the only thing that remained was to decide if she was going to tell her the rest of her Genin team or not. A normal doctor wouldn't have even thought of not telling them, but Michiko was not a normal doctor. She knew if she told them they would never think of this Sasumi the same way again. They would pity her. Just like all Michiko's friend's had pitied her. Right there she made a decision. She was pretty sure they did not know her scars or they would have said something. She would find the girl's parents and talk it out with them, there was no need to involve her friends. With that in mind she walked back to waiting room, but not before wrapping the girl's arms, legs, hands, and feet and bandages again.

After finding that the girl indeed had no parents, was a relief, for Michiko had no desire to go even a mile within the distance of the people, or person who had done this to her. But it left her wondering and Michiko hated not knowing anything. Four days after Yamaki Sasumi had been admitted to the hospital she finally awoke.

Michiko was just fixing the IV that was attached to her arm, when she noticed that the girl's bright green eyes were half open and staring at her blankly. As she made eye contact, the girl's eyes widened considerably.

"Wh…at'…s?" Her eyes took in the white room. "Whe…re?" she managed to cough out.

"You're in the hospital," Michiko told her, trying to sound professional, "You fainted after not eating for almost four consecutive weeks."

The girl looked down at her dilapidated body and then tensed. She slowly looked back at Michiko, her eyes wide.

"Wher…e…are my clothes?" she said, shaking slightly.

"It's standard hospital procedure for us to give you something more comfortable to wear during your stay here," said Michiko, inwardly wincing at how she sounded like a hotel clerk, "Listen, you-"

"Sasumi!"

Michiko whirled around to see the blond haired kid and his black haired teammate standing in the doorway. She inwardly cursed, she had planned on telling the girl that she hadn't told her teammates about her scars. She supposed the girl would have to figure it out by herself.

"Uzu…maki-san? Uchiha…-san?" To her horror, the girl attempted to pull herself up.

"Be careful!" she said, holding her decrepit body up and leaning it against the headboard of the bed, "You'll wear out your body even more."

Then she stopped as she took in what the girl had said. Uzumaki? Uchiha? She turned slowly toward her teammates, as the blond haired boy rushed toward her bedside. She noticed the strange whisker marks on his cheeks.

"_So this is the holder of the Kyuubi," _she thought.

Now being a sensible woman, as well as a doctor, Michiko refused to be afraid of this boy. She had met the Yondaime once or twice before he died, and had complete confidence in his skills. And, she supposed, the fact that the boy was so obviously worried about her patient helped a little. Her eyes moved to the Uchiha boy, who was a little less obvious that he was worried, but a small crease in his forehead didn't go unnoticed by the doctor. She had heard about the Uchiha massacre and that only the little brother of the perpetrator had been spared.

"_What an odd team," _she thought, _"One had a demon inside of him, one is the only survivor of a massacre, and other is a victim of both torture and starvation."_

She then realized that the Kyuubi boy was asking her a question.

"I'm sorry," she said, "Can you repeat that, please?"

"How long do you think it will take before Sasumi gets better?" he said.

"It's hard to say, probably a few weeks at the most." Adolescents were very adaptable, after all.

The blond turned back to the red haired girl, "Sasumi!" he half yelled, "Why didn't you tell us you didn't have enough money to eat?"

The girl looked at him in surprise, "What are you talk…ing about?" she coughed out

"You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about, dammit! After you fainted Kakashi-sensei went to your landlord and found out a month ago that your rent went up and then he said you probably couldn't buy food and that's why you-"

The Uchiha cut him off, "Why didn't you tell us?" he asked angrily.

The girl avoided eye contact with both of them, "I'm sorry," she said, no emotion in her voice, "I didn't think it would interfere with the…mission."

Michiko raised her eyebrows, how would not eating _not _interfere with their missions?

The black haired boy stared at her, "What the hell is that supp-" but the Kyuubi holder cut him off.

"The mission! You think this about the mission?!" he yelled, causing other doctors in nearby rooms to stick there heads out the doors. Michiko closed the door.

The red haired girl looked slightly surprised as he continued, "Goddamnit, Sasumi! I couldn't care less about the stupid mission!"

The girl looked slightly confused, "Why are you angry, then?" she asked quietly.

"You idiot! We care about you, why else!? Are you insane? Do you really think-" The Uchiha clamped his hand around the shorter boy's mouth.

"Exactly," he said.

The girl looked away and then the black haired boy pulled his hand away from the Kyuubi holder in disgust.

"Naruto, what the hell was that, you moron!"

'Naruto' smirked as Michiko caught sight of a bite mark on the other boy's hand. Rolling her eyes she shuffled them out of the room and told them they could come back tomorrow. After they left, she closed the door and resumed fixing the IV on her arm. She felt the girl's stare, but ignored it waiting for her question.

"What do you want?" she asked tonelessly, "You saw them, didn't you."

It was not a question.

"Yes," Michiko said softly, "I did."

The girl closed her eyes, "Why didn't you tell them?"

"I wanted to ask you where you got them first. It doesn't have to do with them, does it?"

The girl opened her eyes and stared at her in a way that almost made her feel uncomfortable.

"No," she said, "It doesn't."

Michiko straightened and pulled up a chair, "They're from torture, aren't they."

The girl froze and then nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Who did this to you?" Michiko asked, trying not to let the girl feel pressured.

"I…they…" she swallowed, "I have a Kekkai Genkai."

Michiko raised her eyebrows in surprise, Kekkai Genkai were very rare, only one clan in Konoha had managed to retain theirs.

"I didn't grow up in the Leaf County and…where I grew up, Kekkai Genkai…people didn't like them, but I," her voice grew stronger, "I ran away almost three years ago and I…that's all there is to it."

The girl looked straight into her eyes, "I don't want them to find out, because they'll pity me and they might even hate me and I," she paused, "don't want that."

Michiko's eyes widened a fraction, this 'Sasumi' knew exactly how Michiko felt when all her friends had found out about…that incident.

"Please," the girl whispered, "Don't tell them."

"Alright." she said," I won't."

**Weeks went by and Sasumi slowly got better. **Her limbs ceased to be skin stretched over bone and she no longer looked as pale as she did when she entered the hospital. Naruto and Sasuke visited everyday and often stayed for hours. The fact that she had nearly starved to death was hardly mentioned and when it was, Naruto and Sasuke were very careful about it. Kakashi came once to tell her that she would now be receiving money from the village. Five weeks after Sasumi fainted, she was released and began to go on missions once again. She had a lot of training to do though. Before Sasumi began receiving money for the village, she would spend Mondays, if she didn't have a mission, training and working on jutsus. Monday was the only day that the restaurant wasn't open, so it was a perfect opportunity for her to train. Sometimes she would go to one of the old training grounds that were almost completely forgotten to train. Other days she would specifically find certain Jounin, such as Maito Gai or the Hokage himself and read parts of their memories to find certain jutsus and how they mastered them. Now that she no longer had to work at the restaurant, all her free time was devoted to training. She would go to the library and read up on special techniques, or spend her time throwing punches and kicks at punching posts that she was forced to make herself as every time she threw a half way decent punch, they would shatter into bits. The combination of all these was making Sasumi a very powerful ninja indeed.

She still went to the tree every night as did her teammates. Though sometimes one or both of them didn't show up, Sasumi still felt at peace there.

Ever since the mission to the Wave Country that really should have been given to Chuunins, the Hokage had completely ignored all Naruto's petitions for more 'interesting' missions, which left them still doing completely pointless missions such as walking someone's dog or carrying their groceries. Some, however, were quite amusing, such as the time they had to deliver a package from a store to and invalid living in an apartment. The invalid, an old women, had dragged them inside for tea and would not stop commenting on how 'cute' Sasuke was, to his horror. After they finally left, Naruto had almost fallen down the stairs laughing and Kakashi hadn't stopped making comments about the particular mission for nearly a week. Another one involved a middle-aged man who kept glaring at Naruto, to Sasumi's fury. Naruto was apparently annoyed as well, because during the mission, doing the man's laundry, he 'accidentally' bleached all the man's clothes bright pink. How he managed to do this, Sasumi did not know, but was very pleased when Kakashi refused to punish him, to the man's astonishment. The man wasn't the only person that discriminated against Naruto. Some people absolutely refused to have him near, to Sasuke's apparent confusion. After this happened for the fifth time, Sasuke said something very rude to the customer, which got them thrown out. Sasumi thought it was well worth it, as did Naruto. The appreciation was nearly oozing out of him as they walked back.

It was just the beginning of spring when it happened. It was before a mission, where they were all to meet in the main square of the village. It was about 10:00 am and there were people everywhere. Sasumi spotted Naruto's blond hair and he waved over to her.

"Hey, Sasumi!" he called, and then turned around and yelled, "Hurry up, bastard. Sasumi's already here!"

Sasumi saw Sasuke walk up behind Naruto and they exchanged, presumably insults, that she couldn't hear.

A boy of about three ran straight into Naruto, bowling them both over. She walked closer to see if they were okay.

"Aww man," she heard Naruto groan, "Watch where you're going." He pulled the boy to his feet and brushed him off, "Are you okay?" he asked him. The boy burst into tears and wailed. Naruto looked confused and was about to say something when a woman, probably his mother's voice was heard.

"Get away from him, you monster!" she yelled and slapped him straight across the face.

**Even before Sasuke understood what the woman was saying,** he knew there was something wrong. When she slapped him, Naruto tumbled to the ground. He looked up slightly, anger stamped on his features. But when she called him a monster his expression changed. His face went completely blank and he looked down again. Suddenly, Sasuke felt very angry, he took a step toward the woman, not completely sure of what he was doing, but Sasumi got there first. He blinked and suddenly she was there, standing right in front to Naruto. She slapped the woman right back across the face. The woman let out a shriek and the people around them began to mutter and point, looking uneasy. But Sasuke realized none of this, his eyes were trained on Sasumi. Her expression was a emotionless as ever, but her eyes were a different story all together. Was it just his imagination or were they darker than before? Her eyes were narrowed slightly and with them she looked like she was trying to burn the woman before her alive. Once the woman recovered from her shock she looked like she was going to yell at Sasumi, but stopped at the look on her face. After a few seconds the woman grabbed her crying children and stormed off through the muttering crowd. Naruto stared after her and then at Sasumi. Sasumi's eyes were back to normal and she grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him up. He stumbled to his feet still staring at Sasumi. The crowd was still muttering and Sasuke caught a few of there words.

"…thrown out of here, that little monster…"

"…does he think he is? What is the Sandaime think…"

"Let's get out of here before he goes berserk. Why is he…"

"Monster."

"…be killed, he shouldn't be…"

"…should just die…"

"won't he leave us alone?"

"shouldn't be here…not normal."

"…freak…"

"…monster…"

"That demon…"

Monster Demon Freak 

Sasuke glared at them until they dispersed, but still keeping a far distance away from Naruto.

He had always been confused at the villagers blatant hatred of his teammate. At first, he thought it was because Naruto was loud and annoying and that he had probably pulled pranks on them. But even before he became a Genin, he noticed that their hatred ran far deeper than pranks or how Naruto acted. When he became a Genin his suspicions were confirmed as he spent more time around him. The villagers just seemed to hate him no mater what he did.

Now was just one of the many examples of times when Naruto had done nothing wrong, but they still found something to hate about him. And what was up with the 'monster' thing. Even if he had pranked a few of them, there was only so much you could hate him for it, right?

He had once asked Naruto why everyone seemed to hate him, but he had laughed nervously and asked what he was talking about. The only conclusion that made sense to Sasuke was that it seemed that the entire village knew something about Naruto that he didn't. But he couldn't think of anything Naruto could have done to deserve the hatred of practically the whole village.

And then there was how they looked at him, like he was some sort of disgusting creature that should be killed. But he had also noticed that there was not only the obvious hatred of him, but also fear. At first Sasuke denied what he saw, thinking that they had no possible reason to _fear_ Naruto, hate him was one thing, but to be afraid of? It was almost laughable.

But within the last year he found that with every person who looked at the blond in hatred also looked at him in fear. He was confused, now and then, what did they fear about Naruto?

**When Kakashi arrived, **he immediately noticed that the people seemed slightly perturbed and were muttering in a way that Kakashi always associated with the fact that something bad could have happened. He noticed that Sasuke was glaring at them and that Naruto was kicking imaginary dirt and looked neither left nor right until they left the square. He decided not to ask and led them to a more secluded spot.

"We were originally going to have a mission today," he told them, "but there's been a change in plans."

Naruto looked up at him in surprise and Kakashi couldn't help wonder why he was looking so glum.

"The Chuunin exam is coming up and I have decided that I am going to enter you as a team."

They stared at him blankly and Kakashi was beginning to feel slightly annoyed.

"Alright, what happened?" he asked, "You're quieter than usual today. What happened in the square?"

Naruto shrugged, "Nothing, Kakashi-sensei. We're just tired, because you keep making us get up so early," he said, grinning slightly, though it seemed to Kakashi that he was just faking it. He decided that he probably wasn't going to get anything out of him and dropped the subject.

"Do you even know what the Chuunin exam is?" he asked them.

Sasuke and Sasumi both nodded and Naruto said, "It's…uh…a test?"

Kakashi ignored the urge to roll his eyes and began to explain the basic parts of the exam. When he was done, he looked to his other students who were both, who were both staring off into space.

"Well," he said, breaking the awkward silence, "You all get some rest, because tomorrow is going to be a long day."

He watched them walk off and he shook his head in defeat. What a weird team.

**Naruto stared listlessly as people passed him and his teammates on both sides. **He felt strange, like he was empty, because right now he didn't really know what to feel. He had been slapped before. It wasn't really a big deal. But they had made it a big deal. Sasumi had stood in front of him and if that wasn't enough she had hit the woman right back. And by the sound of her slap, she had hit that woman hard. And the fact that Sasuke was glaring at all the people that were staring didn't go unnoticed by him. It was a good feeling he supposed, but he was just so confused and just needed to think it over.

"Oi, Sasumi," came Sasuke's voice, "Did you eat breakfast?"

It had become standard procedure for them to ask every morning if Sasumi had eaten anything yet. Ever since she fainted, they had made a silent agreement that if Sasumi couldn't take care of herself then they were going to for her. At first Sasumi had seemed sort of surprised that they actually cared, but slowly she became used to it. He looked up to see Sasuke shaking his head slightly. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Sorry," came Sasumi's calm voice, "I forgot."

"Well," said Sasuke, "We'll just have to fix that. C'mon, moron, we're going out for ramen."

As he was dragged away to his favorite restaurant Naruto got the feeling he was missing something.

**A/N: Next chapter: Chuunin Exam! And you get to meet our favorite psycho-killer Sand-nin! I'm sure you just can't wait. But, unfortunately you have to, 'cause surprisingly, I have a life outside of writing fanfiction (it's amazing, I know,) so review. Now. Or I'll be forced to do something drastic.**


	5. Redheads, Sand, and Tests

Chapter Four-

**On their way back from lunch, **Sasumi noticed several people from other villages talking quietly in groups and looking around suspiciously. She saw Sasuke narrow his eyes slightly when he spotted them, but he didn't say anything. Naruto had cheered up considerably and was talking loudly about something or other. She supposed she should be glad that Naruto hadn't noticed them, because if he did he would probably start yelling at them. However, it wasn't Naruto who started the events that would soon transpire.

They were walking along a particularly deserted street when they began to hear the noises.

"You little brat! You should apologize when you run into someone!"

"Kankurou, let him go. We have better things to do," came a cold voice.

"Ga-Gaara! B-But this little brat ran-"

"Now. Or I'll kill you."

There was a thudding noise and a boy of about eight ran past them.

When they rounded the corner they saw three figures. One was wearing all black and had purple stripes on his face. The other was a girl with blonde hair and was holding a huge fan. The last one was shorter than the other two and looked about Sasumi's age, if not younger. But she immediately knew that it was him who had spoke the last words. He had strange black circles around his eyes and his rust colored hair looked strangely bloodstained. At their approach he looked them up and down quickly. Sasumi eyes widened involuntarily as they briefly made eye contact. In a split second she had realized three things that caused this reaction.

They were siblings.

The Sand and the Sound were planning a secret attack against the Leaf toward the end of the Chuunin Exam, for reasons this Sabaku no Gaara did not know.

The short boy who stood before her was a _jinchuuriki_.

Just like Naruto. And _her_.

Shit 

Warning bells were going off in her head. She prayed that neither Naruto nor Sasuke would say anything stupid. That boy was dangerous. And from what she'd seen, he didn't have any qualms about killing random people on the street. Unfortunately for her, while her teammates didn't say anything, the Sand-nins did.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said the boy she now knew was named Kankurou, "More pathetic Leafs?"

**Sasuke glared at him, **half wondering if he was as strong as he looked. The blond haired girl beside him sighed.

"Kankurou, can we just go?"

The boy with a gourd on his back didn't say anything. Instead, he was looking at them like they were some sort of rare specimen. Sasuke glared at him as well and the boy glared right back. Interesting.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Naruto, plainly angry at what the had boy said.

"Alright, Temari, we'll go," he said, completely ignoring Naruto, "nothing interesting here anyway."

Naruto looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped when Sasuke glared at him. As they walked past them the boy with rust colored hair looked over them once again and then they were gone.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto said angrily, as soon as they rounded the corner, "Why were those bastards here anyway? They sure as hell aren't from Konoha!"

Sasuke ignored the urge to roll his eyes, "You moron, do you ever listen to what Kakashi says?"

"Shut up, bastard!" the blond snarled, "Just answer the question, if you know so much!"

Sasuke was tempted to hit him, but decided that wouldn't help in the slightest. In fact, it would probably make him even stupider, if that was even possible.

"As Kakashi said, less than an hour ago, tomorrow is the Chuunin Exam," he paused, "You know what is, moron?"

"You bastard! I'm not stupid!"

_"Could have fooled me," _thought Sasuke, but decided not to voice this particular thought.

"In the Chuunin Exam, which the Leaf is hosting, shinobi from other countries also compete. Get it, moron."

A look of recognition appeared on his blonde teammates face, "Oh, so that's why they were here!"

Sasuke decided that he could take Naruto's stupidity no longer and walked off to his apartment. If he was paying more attention, he would have noticed that throughout the entire time he and Naruto were arguing, his other teammate had the strangest look on her face.

The next morning he woke up exceptionally early and climbed down from his place on the tree. He walked quietly back to his apartment, and began to pack. Sasuke knew from when his brother had taken the Chuunin Exam that it would take a few days and would probably involve some survival training.

He packed practically all his weapons, some food and a large water bottle. He would have packed extra clothes, but he decided that they weren't all that important. Sasuke opened the pamphlet that Kakashi had given them and found that the first part of the Chuunin Exam was at a nearby building. He walked over to the building and found a bunch of other people waiting at the entrance. He was slightly perturbed to find that Naruto was already there. They walked in silently together and found room the room numbered 301. He noticed that Sasumi kept glancing at him and Naruto, who were slightly ahead of her.

"What?" He asked finally, annoyed by her glances.

"Where are you going?" She asked, as monotone as usual.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows slightly, "Room 301," he said, "That's what it says in the pamphlet."

She looked over at the room where a bunch of people were fighting. Sasuke caught a few words, but he couldn't make out completely what they were saying. Sasumi looked back at him.

"That's Room 201," she said.

Naruto stopped and look at her worriedly, "Oi, Sasumi, are you feeling alright?" the red haired girl raised her eyebrows as he continued, "Both me and Sasuke see 301."

Suddenly Sasuke saw something akin to recognition appear in her eyes, but only for a second before it disappeared.

"Genjutsu," she muttered softly.

"What?" asked Naruto, obviously confused, but Sasuke understood. He had felt a strange chakra pulse when the entered the building, but had thought nothing of it.

"It's an illusion," he told Naruto shortly, "We're really on the 2nd floor."

"Ohhhhhh."

Unfortunately for them, they had to walk past the bunch of people fighting in front of the fake Room 301 to find the stairs. A few of the people eyed them when they walked up and then stared as they walked past.

A man with spiky black hair who seemed to be instigating all the fights called after them, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Sasuke turned around slightly and looked at him disdainfully, "To Room 301, obviously."

The man looked annoyed, "So you've seen through it, huh?"

Sasuke smirked, "Of course, a pitiful Genjutsu like that, _anyone_ could see through it."

He could feel the glares of the other Genin in the room already.

"Why you-" the man started, bringing his leg up to kick Sasuke, "-little brat!!"

Sasuke brought his own leg back and was just about to kick the guy to oblivion, when his leg stopped. Confused, he looked to his leg and saw there was something green in-between his and the other man's leg.

A boy about his age, dressed in a green jumpsuit, had jumped in-between their kicks and were now holding their legs He dropped his leg before Sasuke could wrench it away. Another boy with long hair and pupil-less eyes came up behind him.

"What are you doing, Lee?" He hissed angrily, "I thought we agreed not to do anything stupid."

A girl with two black buns on her head sighed, "Whatever, it's too late now. Let's go, Neji, Lee."

While the girl was talking, the long-haired boy turned to look at Sasuke.

"You," he said, "What's your name?"

Sasuke smirked again, "Aren't you supposed to give your own name first," he said, ignoring Sasumi's look, "Let's go." He turned around and he and his teammates walked out.

They had just entered a large room and were about to climb up the stairs when he heard a voice.

"Please wait!"

He turned to see the boy 'Lee' looking down at them.

"What do you want?" He asked slightly annoyed that they kept getting stopped.

"I am Rock Lee," he said, ignoring Sasuke's question, "It is customary to give your own name first, right, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, "So you know. What do you want," he asked again.

"A fight. With you," the boy clarified.

A fight? This boy with his weird haircut and eyebrows was asking him for a fight?

"Alright," he said.

"Oi, bastard," he heard Naruto's voice, "Don't take so long, alright? We got thirty minutes."

Sasuke smirked, "Don't worry, this will only take five."

**Kakashi waited at the entrance of Room 301. **He was a bit annoyed that his team was late and started to wonder if they were going to come at all. However, he reminded himself that this was Naruto and Sasuke he was thinking about. If they didn't come then Kakashi had never been late for anything in his entire life. Sasumi would probably be dragged along, she didn't seem like a person who would go against the group. Not only that, but he had noticed that his team had become especially close after Sasumi had fainted and he doubted that Naruto and Sasuke would come alone.

He didn't have to wait much longer, because from around the corner came his team. Naruto and Sasuke were exchanging insults and Sasumi was emotionless and quiet as usual.

"Well, you're finally all here," he said distracting Naruto and Sasuke. He noticed that Sasuke's clothes were a little dirtier than usual. He had probably got into a fight.

"Kakashi-sensei! What is today with weird sensei?"

Kakashi blinked, "Weird sensei?"

Naruto started talking rapidly about some weird guy (no pun intended) they had met. He couldn't understand every single thing Naruto was saying, but after catching the words, 'green,' 'eyebrows,' and 'spandex,' Kakashi got the idea.

"Okay, Okay," he said, cutting Naruto off, "I came to say good luck to you all, not be deafened."

Naruto glared at him.

"So in you go," he said gesturing at the doors, "Good luck."

They walked in, all three of them silent. He waited for a few minutes until he heard them talking with a few of the other Genin inside.

It made him think of when he, Obito, and Rin took the Chuunin Exam. The Third Hokage had all passed them and at the time Kakashi remembered himself thinking that only he should have passed. They had worked better together then, before the wars started. Their sensei had even complemented them on their teamwork, something that Kakashi wasn't proud of until after Obito's death. When they got older, he and Obito grew apart. He suspected that it had a lot to do with the fact that Obito's father was displeased that he had not gained his use of the Sharingan. Obito had grown loud and annoying, as if to hide his insecurity. In fact, every time he looked at Naruto's fake smile he was reminded of Obito. Even while he was dying, he was worried that the gift of his left eye would not be good enough. Like because it was apart of him it would be trash. Obito's insecurity, he knew, was partly his fault. He never complimented him and couldn't think of anything he had ever said nice to him. He should have been kinder. He should have been understanding. He should have done a million things differently. But he didn't. And there wasn't anything in the world he could do to change that.

But it was mostly the Uchiha Clan's fault. It was the pressure of being a _tensai _that had made Obito the way he was. They made him think he was a loser and a drop-out. Kakashi had noticed that Sasuke seemed to be under the same pressure, but he had only lived with that pressure for seven years.

But some of the pressure would never leave him, like that fact that Sasuke hated to lose. He had to be the best at everything and hated to be beaten. In a way, he reminded Kakashi of Itachi. He has no doubt that it was the Uchiha Clan that made Itachi the way he was. It was about ten years after Obito died when the Uchiha Massacre happened. Kakashi had been an ANBU at the time and had cleaned up the bodies. He was surprised to hear that Itachi's younger brother was still alive and didn't understand why until the day that Sasuke became part of his team. Then he realized why. Because Itachi wanted to play with Sasuke. He wanted to mess him up, wanted to make him do anything to kill him. It was like he was taking out all his anger on his younger brother for reasons Kakashi didn't care to know. All he did know was that there was no other explanation for Itachi's behavior than that he was under too much pressure.

Sasuke seemed to be happy with his teammates, but Kakashi had to wonder how long that would last. As Kakashi walked away from the doors, knowing that he was late for lunch with a few friends, he swore to himself that he wouldn't let Sasuke end up like Obito.

He had gotten halfway down the hallway when he heard Naruto's loud voice yelling something about beating everyone up.

"_Well," _he thought, _"At least someone isn't nervous." _

**Sabaku no Gaara stared at the loud, **short, blond boy front of him. People like that annoyed him especially. He heard Kankurou muttering beside him while the boy continued to grin. How weak. He turned his attention to the doors on the other side of the room. Waiting for the instructors irked him. He was only here, after all, to find some interesting opponents and then kill them. If the instructors didn't show up, the Exam wouldn't start, and if the Exam didn't start, the Sand wouldn't attack and then he wouldn't get to kill people. He felt Temari shift nervously beside him. They were both afraid of him. Not only the demon, but of him too.

"_Good,"_ he thought, _"Then maybe they'll leave me alone." _

Finally the instructors arrived, breaking up a fight between an older Leaf nin and three Sound nins. The head of the instructors bore a scar across the expanse of his face. He had a strange haunted look in his eyes. Gaara liked killing people like that, for some reason it always felt better. He had noticed that the black haired teammate of the stupid blond had it as well. He wondered how strong he was. Maybe he would make a good opponent.

The scared man named, Morino Ibiki, had them sit down and explained the rules of a written test they were taking. He didn't listen to much, just that he would need one question right to pass and that if he was caught cheating five times his entire team would fail. It was easy enough and Gaara wanted to get it over with, but the rest of the people in the room seemed to have a problem with the rules. He wished they would all die.

Finally they started the test. After looking over the questions carefully he realized that he knew the answers to none of them. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Not even bothering to put his hands under the table, he made a hand seal and formed his third eye. He directed it over to a person in the third row who seemed to be writing very fast.

As he was writing he felt Kankurou's eyes upon him and looked at him without moving his head. His elder brother looked away in fear. Gaara smirked inwardly, Kankurou and Temari would have to find the answers themselves. He wasn't going to help them. And if they failed, he would kill them for their uselessness. With this pleasant thought in mind, Gaara continued to write.

**Naruto was panicking, **really, really panicking. Dammit, what did written tests have to do with being a ninja! It wasn't his fault that he didn't listen to Iruka-sensei's lectures during his years at the academy. He had read every single question on the test at least ten times each and he didn't know any of the answers no matter how he looked at them. And he couldn't cheat because he'd get caught. He was a horrible cheater, Iruka-sensei had caught him every time. Hinata (that was her name right?) had offered to 'help' him, but he had been a moron and refused. And it didn't help that his time was running out.

_"Arghh, why am I so stupid!" _

His only hope was to answer the last question on the bottom and pray to whatever gods were out there that he got it right. If not, Sasuke was going to hurt him so much…not that he'd let him…not that made any sense at all…well- okay brain, shut up and work!

Minutes seemed to snail by and all Naruto could think of was that he had better get this question right or the shit would hit the fan…whatever that meant.

Finally the time was up and the creepy guy with the weird scar on his face told them to stop what they were doing.

"Alright," he said, "Here's some rules for the last question."

"_More rules?"_

"If you get this question wrong, you fail the whole test, and are banned from taking the Chuunin exam ever again."

"_OH SHIT!!!"_

"Now, all of you will get the choice of if you want to answer the question and risk getting it wrong or wait until next year."

This was not good, really not good! He was so screwed! Should he take it and risk getting it wrong? Or back down and take it next year? While he thought about it, he heard people start to complain, but he hardly heard what they were saying. It quieted down after a while and one by one people began to raise their hands and leave in groups of three.

As they left Naruto started to notice that just before they raised their hands they had this scared look on their faces. It was almost laughable, they were scared! Well, alright, the creepy guy was kind of scary, but that was besides the point.

But they were scared. He wasn't scared, right? Right. He wasn't. Naruto wasn't going to back down. Being Hokage just meant being the best in the village. You didn't have to be a Chuunin to be the best in the village.

So he sat there and watched a few of the last Genin walk out. There were about eighty left, he decided, quickly counting the remaining Genin in the room. The scarred man didn't say anything, as if waiting for something. What could he be waiting for?

Finally, after almost a minute, he said, "Is that it?"

The rest of the Genin in the room just stared at him. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, wait did he want them to leave? How dare he!

"Ch, not all of us are just going to run away, you know," he said loudly, "I'm not scared of your questions! Bring it on!"

Surprisingly, the man didn't look annoyed, but smiled slightly, "Alright," he said, "If that's it…you all pass!"

"Huh?"

**Sasumi eyed the Morino Ibiki carefully, **wanting to know more about him. When they had briefly shared eye contact, Sasumi had known. She didn't have to had read his memory, though she did anyway. She had caught a few images of a scroll and chains and blood, but that was it. She wanted, no, _needed_ to know more.

His eyes were just like hers, no matter his current emotion, they always had that dead look in them. That look that she knew she scared people with.

But she had more pressing matters to deal with. Much more pressing. Concerning one Yakushi Kabuto. The second she looked into his eyes she knew she was in deeper than she thought. She hadn't known that Orochimaru, one of the great Sannin and a traitor to the Leaf was involved. And that the traitor Sannin wanted the body of her dark haired teammate, wasn't exactly reassuring either.

And then there was something about a curse seal. She hadn't seen enough to find out what it was, but it was important. She glanced over at Sasuke. If only she could warn him. She had already worked out a way to warn the Leaf about the attack by the Sand. A simple anonymous note would do. But with the Orochimaru affair, she didn't have enough time. She didn't know when exactly he would try to get Sasuke's body, but it was probably sometime during the Exam. Not good. At all.

She had read about Orochimaru. He had been thrown out of Konoha after he performed illegal experiments on human subjects without their consent. In other words, torture. Which made her want to kill him even more. However, if she attempted using her full strength, well let's just say that she would be in a _lot _of trouble.

She inwardly sighed and watched the instructor for the next part of the Exam fly in through the window. She just needed time to think this out. Something which she didn't have. This was definitely not good.

**A/N: Okay people I'm kinda touched, and then kinda not. I had six people put Shi no Me on their Alerts list and one person put it on their Favorites list. Thank you, you people that did that (I would mention your names, but I…eh…he…forgot them (ducks flying object) but I've only had two reviews! Two! Until I saw the Alerts/Favorites thingy I was going to take it off for lack of popularity! So please, be nice, review, and don't be lazy like me. All kidding aside, getting positive reviews really makes my day. **


	6. Shi no Mori

Chapter Five-

**Sasuke looked around the dark forest warily, **keeping an eye out for anything that looked suspicious. He was glad that he brought extra food and water, because surviving in this forest for five days would be hard. They walked silently along, all careful not to gain unwanted attention. Before they had entered this 'Forest of Death' he had told both of his teammates to be extra careful. Not that Sasumi would make any noise anyway. They were in the forest only ten minutes when a huge gust of wind blew them apart.

"Shit," he yelled, "Stick together!"

But as soon as the words left his mouth he found himself alone in a clearing, the wind having died down.

_"Dammit," _he thought, _"Ten minutes and we're already separated!" _

He heard a rustling noise behind him and spun around, kunai in hand. He relaxed however when he realized it was Sasumi.

"Are you okay?" he said, noticing a bruise forming on her cheek.

"Fine," she said, hurriedly, "Listen, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun is hurt!"

It took all the willpower Sasuke had to not laugh. Sasuke-kun? He let his kunai fly and she dodged and then exploded in a puff of smoke. A man of about twenty took her place. He wore a strange metal device over his face and goggles.

"You," he hissed, "How did you know I wasn't the girl?"

Sasuke sneered, "How stupid do you think I am?"

He threw another kunai at the man and then some shuriken. The man dodged most of his weapons, but after the skirmish, two shuriken were lodged in his throat. He made to get away and Sasuke was just about to stop him, when he heard his name being called.

"Oi, Sasuke! Whatcha doing, bastard?"

He turned around to see Naruto running towards him. Then he remembered the man, but by the time he turned back around again he was gone.

"Dammit, you moron! You distracted me and now he's gone!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind," growled Sasuke in annoyance, "Where's Sasumi?"

It then occurred to Sasuke that 'Naruto' could also be someone else in disguise, but he decided, after seeing that annoying facial expression that could only belong to Naruto, it was probably him.

"Uh…I dunno. She has to be around here somewhere, right?"

"I'm right here." They turned around to see the slightly ruffled redhead walking toward them.

"Oi, Sasumi, you okay?"

The moron was practically yelling, which resulted in Sasuke whacking him on the head.

"You bastard, what the hell was that for?"

"Shut up!" He hissed, "Do you want them find us?"

He looked at Sasumi suspiciously, wondering if it was another bushin. She probably noticed his look, because she then said, "My name is Yamaki Sasumi. I fainted from starvation about three months ago and was out for almost a month. Do you want me to go through every mission we've been through, Uchiha-san?"

Sasuke looked away, "No, that's fine."

He rubbed his neck awkwardly. Naruto looked confused.

"What's going on?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes inwardly, "Look moron, just a minute before you got here I was attacked by a bushin in Sasumi's form and I couldn't tell if she was the real Sasumi or another bushin."

"Oh," there was a pause. "Wait, then why didn't you ask me anything?"

Sasuke smirked, "Well, I was going to, but then I realized that there's probably no one stupid enough here to pretend to be _you_."

"Huh? What's that suppos- you bastard!"

Sasuke clamped his hand over the blonde's mouth.

"You idiot. Will you shut up for a second!"

Suddenly, beside him Sasumi went rigid, but reverted back to her usual stance so fast that Sasuke wasn't sure if he saw correctly. Before he could ask her about it, he sensed a strange presence. He looked around, but couldn't see anything.

"What is that?" Whispered Naruto.

"I don't know?" He whispered back.

"Hmm…look what we have here."

Sasuke swiveled around in search of the voice and laid eyes on a tall woman wearing what looked like a bow around her waist. The second they made eye contact Sasuke knew they were in deep trouble. He eyed her apprehensively and moved his hand slowly toward his shuriken pouch.

"What are you going to do with that, Uchiha Sasuke?"

His mouth fell open as she disappeared and reappeared less than a second later beside him. Panicking, he flung three shuriken at her, which she easily dodged.

_"Shit, shit, shit! This is not good! She's way stronger than us!"_

He heard Naruto yell and watched in shock as his orange-clad teammate was thrown against a tree. Sasumi seemed to have escaped unscathed and suddenly five shuriken came out of nowhere and the woman barely dodged them. Sasumi stood in a tree, just above where Naruto was pulling himself to his feet. His eyes widened as the woman summoned a gigantic snake, which hissed a bent down toward Naruto. He quickly threw a kunai at it, but it bounced harmlessly off its scales.

"Sasumi," he yelled, trying unsuccessfully to keep the panic out of his voice, "Get Naruto out of the way!!"

There was a crash as the snake lunged at his teammate.

"NARU-" he was cut off as the woman threw a medium sized shuriken at him. He dodged and as the dust cleared he looked for signs of Naruto. Finding none, he panicked.

_"Did the snake eat him? What the hell is going on?"_

"Hey, bastard, where are you looking?"

He turned around at the voice and saw Naruto standing behind the woman, kunai in hand.

_"How?" _he turned to look at where he previously was, _"Must have been a bushin."_

The woman didn't look the least perturbed at his survival. Instead, she looked amused.

"Hmm…not bad, brat."

Naruto turned his attention to her, growling slightly.

"Well, it seems this is going nowhere."

Sasuke did **not **like that look in her eyes.

"Let's up the stakes, shall we?"

She pulled out her scroll, with the kanji for earth inscribed on its front.

"How about…_we put our lives on the line_."

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as the woman swallowed the scroll whole. Naruto rushed toward her.

"You bitch! What the hell are you doing!!"

"Naruto, don't-"

The woman dodged him easily, landing a kick on the back of his head as he went. Naruto yelled in pain and flew to the ground next to Sasuke. Sasumi, who Sasuke hadn't noticed was beside him, pulled the groaning blond to his feet.

"Ch," said the woman, "How weak."

Suddenly a kunai flew at Sasuke. He couldn't dodge and a kunai was lodged in his forehead, shuriken came out of nowhere and his entire body was …

Sasuke blinked. What happened. He fell to his knees and faintly heard Naruto fall as well. He wretched and shakily wiped his mouth.

_"What the HELL was that!!! Genjutsu?!"_

He turned his uncooperative body towards Naruto and saw that he was shaking as well. Tears were in his eyes as he struggled to control himself. He looked past toward Sasumi. She hadn't moved at all and was looking impassively down at both of them. He fell back on his hands.

_"No, not a genjutsu. That was pure killing intent. What the hell is she!!?" _

The woman seemed slightly perturbed at the fact that Sasumi hadn't moved at all since her display of…_whatever _that was. He activated his Sharingan and glared at the woman, still struggling to move. The woman seemed to gain her composure and threw several kunai at the three of them. He forced himself to stand.

"Sasumi!" he yelled.

She understood and grabbed Naruto. Seconds later they were high in a tree's branches. Sasuke was still shaking.

_"Dammit! At this rate we're all going to die!"_

"W-What the hell!" stammered Naruto, "Wha-" Sasuke clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Shut up," he hissed, "Listen, if we don't give up the scroll, she's going to kill us!"

Naruto steadied himself and grabbed his hand from his mouth, "Are you insane?" he whispered.

"Do you want to die?" Sasuke countered, "This is the only way we can survive."

_The only way I can kill him. _

"You coward!" Naruto hissed, grabbing the collar of Sasuke's shirt, "I can't believe you, you bastard!"

"Stop it."

They both turned around to see Sasumi looking seriously at them.

"Did you hear?" whispered Naruto angrily, still holding on to his shirt, "This bastard wants to give up our scroll!"

That was it. He grabbed the collar of Naruto's jacket, "Listen, you moron-"

"Uchiha-san, giving away the scroll is pointless."

He stopped and turned around to stare at her, "What?"

"She doesn't want the scroll," she said emotionlessly, "She wants to kill us."

**Naruto stared at her,** "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Sasuke shifted beside him, "What do you mean, she doesn't want the scroll?"

"By swallowing her scroll, it's obvious that she doesn't care about passing the Exam. If she doesn't want our scroll, then it's logical that she wants to kill us."

Naruto stared at her. It was, after all, the most he'd heard her talk, since… well, ever.

"_That kind of makes sense…I guess," _he thought.

"Why would she want to kill us?" asked Sasuke.

Sasumi didn't say anything.

"Shit," said Sasuke, "Now we don't have anything to barter with."

Naruto turned toward him angrily, "Look bastard, we were never going to give him the scroll anyway!"

"You moron! Don't you understand, she's way out of our league! We can't do anything against her."

Naruto opened his mouth to yell at him, but Sasumi interrupted him.

"Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san, above you."

Naruto looked up to see a gigantic snake similar to the one that had ate his bushin.

"Shit!" he yelled and dodged out of the way. He landed on the ground and looked around frantically for his teammates. Sasumi had moved to another tree. Good, she was safe. Sasuke was dodging the snake that seemed intent on eating him. Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes went wide. He froze as the snake's tail whacked him into a tree, several feet from Naruto.

"Sasuke!" He yelled, scrambling over to him.

Sasumi leapt down to land beside the black-haired boy. Sasuke groaned and attempted to stand.

"You stupid bastard!" yelled Naruto, half in anger, half in relief that he wasn't hurt enough that he couldn't stand, "Why the hell didn't you dodge that!"

"Shut up," snarled his teammate.

Naruto looked over at the snake whose skin had split apart to reveal the strange woman.

_"WHAT THE HELL!!!" _his jaw dropped, what was she!?

"This is getting quite boring. Let's finish, shall we?"

Sasuke froze beside him. His eyes wide in…fear? No, that was impossible. Uchiha Sasuke, afraid? Naruto had seen him angry, annoyed, bored, tense, and even sad. But never afraid. He glared at the snake-woman. If Sasuke was going to be a coward, he wasn't going to stop him. But he sure as hell wouldn't stand back and watch him get killed. His mouth twisted into a smirk. He drew his kunai and launched himself toward the woman.

"Don't underestimate us, bitch!"

She pulled up her sleeve and he saw a strange looking tattoo. She did something with her other hand that he couldn't see.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" she called out.

Naruto gaped as wind swirled around her.

_"What!"_

Suddenly she was standing on a snake that was twice the size of the previous one. He didn't stop running, though.

"Naruto, stop it! Run away!" Sasuke yelled at him, but he paid him no heed. He was going to beat this woman no matter what Sasuke said. He wasn't afraid and Sasuke had better watch him as he did it. Suddenly the snakes tail lashed out and hit directly in the chest. He was pushed straight through a tree branch, huge chunks of wood lodging themselves in his back. Naruto yelled out in pain and he coughed out blood and he flew to the ground.

And then everything went red. It was like the time he thought Haku had killed Sasuke. Everything suddenly seemed simple and he only knew one thing.

Kill 

He was going to kill her and the snake. He launched himself toward her.

Kill 

He was going to make her bleed. The blood would be all over his hands. He punched her snake into the ground. He was going to kill her.

Kill 

He didn't notice Sasuke yelling his name, or that Sasumi's eye were wider than he'd ever seen them. He didn't notice the woman's look of shock and then recognition. He didn't even notice that his nails had suddenly grown longer, his pupils were mere slits and that his eyes were bright red. All he knew was that he wanted to kill the woman before him and nothing was going to get in his way.

KILL 

Suddenly, the woman blew something at him that made him cough and he couldn't see. He was slammed into a tree. When he looked up, he saw the snake was speeding toward Sasuke who was struggling to get up. He threw himself between Sasuke and the snake.

"Heh, are you hurt?" he said, repeating the words Sasuke had said to him months ago, "Scaredy cat?"

Just the shocked look on Sasuke's face was worth the pain of coughing out those words. He only had a moment to savor it though, because suddenly, the woman's abnormally long tongue looped around his upper body and pulled him up so that he was face-to-face with her.

"You bitch!" he yelled, struggling, "Let me go!"

"So, the Kyuubi brat has been alive after all this time," she said smirking.

He froze in shock and she pulled him closer. Suddenly, Naruto felt a horrible sense of foreboding. But he couldn't move.

"You-"

"Hmm…and look the seal shows when you use it's power. How interesting." She pulled up his shirt and suddenly Naruto saw that her right hand had started to glow, "However, I am not interested in you. How about you…go to sleep!!"

Her hand connected with his stomach and he screamed with pain. He struggled to get away, but her grip was too strong. And then it was too much, and everything went black.

**Sasumi watched in shock as the blond went limp. **Sasuke was still frozen, his eyes the size of dinner plates. Orochimaru tossed Naruto aside contemptuously. She threw a kunai, effectively pining the back of Naruto's jacket to a tree branch, stopping his fall. Orochimaru's gaze fell on her and she felt the confusion in his eyes. She kept her face impassive, as usual, blocking out her panic.

If she did something now, they would be saved, but her cover would be broken. If she did nothing, Orochimaru would mark Sasuke with this 'curse seal' and would be under his control if traitor wished him to be. Which he did. Either way it was a lose-lose situation.

If she could somehow get Sasuke to fight the Sannin for real then maybe she could walk away with her secret intact as well as her teammates. She knew that Orochimaru would never allow Sasuke to beat him, however, from his memories, it seemed like he liked to play around with his opponents. Which could be called careless. If Sasuke were to injure him as much as he could, then she could step in last second and claim that the snake-man was injured and distracted and it was just plain luck. Her plan involved a lot of 'ifs,' but it was her only hope.

She looked at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. She inwardly felt contempt for his cowardliness as she noticed he was shaking slightly. She knew he had reason to be afraid, after all they were faced with one of the greatest ninja that had ever come out of Konoha, but that didn't stop her from scorning his fear. She disliked people who cried, complained, and were scared all the time. Maybe it was because she couldn't do all those things.

"Uchiha-san," she said softly, "What are you doing?"

He closed his eyes and then opened them again a determined light in his eyes. He drew several kunai and a shuriken from his bag and threw himself at the Sannin. They clashed a few times until finally Sasuke sent a fire jet straight into Orochimaru's face, which effectively burned it off.

"You truly are worthy of the Uchiha name," he said, his voice lower betraying the fact that he was male, "I knew it, my eyes are never wrong."

He was going to make his move now. She leapt onto the branch were the black-haired boy now stood. Suddenly she felt Orochimaru's killing intent once again and Sasuke froze beside her.

"Out of two of you, it seems you have more potential than that Itachi."

He put his hand over his head band and changed the symbol to a musical note.

"What are you!" Sasuke shouted, slightly hysterical.

"My name is Orochimaru," he said, in his left hand their 'heaven' scroll, which he incinerated, "I am the leader of the Village of the Sound, don't forget it now."

He looked content, which made Sasumi slightly confused. Wasn't he going to try and curse her teammate? Had he changed his mind?

She didn't see the hand seal until too late. Suddenly, his neck had elongated and his head was speeding toward Sasuke. She didn't even think. She wasn't aware that she had begun to move. All she knew was that something very bad would happen if her only conscious teammate was cursed.

When she came to her senses she was in-between Orochimaru and Sasuke, the Sannin's teeth sunk deep in her good arm. She barely registered the head retracting and the look on complete shock and Sasuke's face. She plunged her bad arm into her bag and landed three shuriken into the stunned Sannin's chest before he could move away. She hadn't even felt the pains that shot up her bad arm. She wielded another shuriken, but then realized that Orochimaru was gone.

And only then did she feel the pain. Every nerve in her body, starting from the bite mark on her good arm and spreading quickly, felt like it was on fire. She lodged her teeth deep in her lip to stop herself from crying out. She knew she was shaking, but could do nothing to stop it. She fell to her knees, faintly hearing Sasuke's panicked voice. Her gloved hands found the hard wood of the branch and the soft moss that grew on top of it. She dug her fingers deep into the wood, still shaking like mad. It hurt so much and it took every ounce of self-control that she possessed not to scream. A normal person would have screamed. No normal person would be able to stand up to the pain like she did. However, Sasumi was not a normal person, she had felt pain worse that this before and she refused to give in to the horrible sensations that were constantly plagued her body. She wasn't even sure why she didn't want to scream, she just knew she couldn't. She focused on that one thing as the pains became worse and her brain began to strain under the pressure. She didn't feel Sasuke's hand on her shoulder or hear him calling her name. All she knew was the pain and how familiar it was. It seemed to go on forever, until finally, it was too much for her mind to handle and she passed out, her forehead coming in contact with the branch as she slumped over.

**A/N: Before I get flamers, I just wanted to say that, yes, I have been having everything happen to Sasumi. That will change, I PROMISE. Believe me, by the time I'm done with the rest of the characters…you'll hate me more…crap. Anyway please review!! Or I'll…do something!!**


	7. Cross Dressing and Kabuto

Chapter Six-

**He should have known there was something wrong with the girl. **The second he noticed she didn't react to his killing intent, he should have known. But he had ignored it, thinking that she was just stupid and didn't realize what was happening. Instead, it was Orochimaru who had been stupid. That was no ordinary move she had done back there. No ordinary Genin could have been fast enough to get in front of Orochimaru without him noticing. In fact, he was sure that there were only a few shinobi in the entire Leaf Country who could do that. It also bothered him that she had actually been able to wound him before he could get away. His injuries weren't that bad, in fact he had almost completely repaired them, but it was the fact that a mere Genin was able to injure one of the legendary Sannin that bothered him. Who was that girl? Suddenly, he sensed a presence that he had not sensed since he had left Konoha all those years ago.

_"Anko, huh?" _

He decided to go off and visit her, making up his mind that he would ask Kabuto about the red-haired girl later.

**Sasuke stared Sasumi's immobile form, **unsure if he was dreaming or not. He lifted her up and saw that she appeared to be unconscious. This was not good, both his teammates were unconscious and probably injured. He lifted the Kunoichi and jumped toward where Naruto hung. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or annoyed at her lack of weight. He pulled the kunai pining Naruto's jacket to the tree branch out and dropped to the ground, catching Naruto on the way down.

Sasumi didn't appear to be injured, but the way she had shook right after that Orochimaru had bitten her… Naruto, on the other hand, had splinters lodged in his back and his blood had all but dyed the back of his jacket red. He turned his blond teammate over and winced at the sight of his back. There were only four or five splinters, but they were huge and had imbedded themselves deeply in his back. Sasuke carefully pulled off Naruto jacket as best he could without ripping it and started to slowly pull out each piece of wood one by one. Even though Naruto was unconscious Sasuke could feel him tense every time he removed a splinter. Half an hour later, he finished and was about to wrap his teammate's torso in bandages when he noticed something strange. The huge cuts on his back seemed to have gotten smaller. No, that was impossible. He knew Naruto had an unusual amount of stamina, but he couldn't heal that fast…could he? He looked at them closer and realized that they had also gotten shallower. For cuts to heal this fast…it was almost inhuman!

_**Inhuman**_

For no apparent reason, he was reminded of what the villagers had said that day.

_"…does he think he is? What is the Sandaime think…"_

_"…monster…"_

_"…thrown out of here, that little monster…"_

_"Let's get out of here before he goes berserk. Why is he…"_

_"…won't he leave us alone?"_

_"Monster…"_

_"shouldn't be here…not normal."_

_"…freak…"_

_"…should just die…"_

_"That demon…"_

_"…be killed, he shouldn't be…"_

Then the image of Naruto attacking Orochimaru , his eyes red instead of blue, invaded his mind. Who exactly was Naruto?

He shook his head, as if to clear his confused thoughts. He was imagining things, that was the only explanation. He was tired and his brain was making stuff up. It was the only logical solution. Now if only he could get himself to believe that.

He wrapped bandages around the blond, intentionally not looking at the previously grotesque wounds. After he was done, he turned towards Sasumi. He would have inspected the bite on her right arm, but her left hand was tightly attached to it and he gave up trying after a while. What bothered him was that the area around him was quiet. Too quiet. Suddenly , he had that annoying feeling that something bad was going to happen. By nature, Sasuke was not the kind of person that would run from a fight. But with two injured teammates to take care of, the odds of them surviving were very slim. Deciding it would be better if they didn't stay in one place, he pulled the blond on to his back and grabbed Sasumi around the middle. He found a good place hidden under a tree's root. As Sasuke put them down, he noticed that Sasumi's breathing was uneven. Her face, however, was completely blank, which unnerved him. It was obvious that she was in extreme pain by her breathing and by the sweat that was dripping down her face. How her face remained blank even while she was unconscious seemed strange. For Sasuke, keeping an emotionless façade was a chore, especially with a moron of a teammate. But it seemed to him that it came naturally to Sasumi. He then wondered, along with the countless people who had met the red-haired girl, if she actually felt anything at all. He looked up at the sky found that it was night. Hadn't it only been noon when they had entered to forest? Looking toward his teammates he realized that he wasn't going to be getting much sleep that night.

_"Not that I need it anyway."_

**Naruto opened his eyes and blearily stared at surroundings. **

_"Not home," _he thought incoherently, _"Where the hell? Oh, yeah, Chuunin Exam." _

His eyes widened as he remembered the night before. He tried to move, but his back hurt like hell.

"Moron, don't overexert yourself."

He looked up to see a very annoyed and tired looking Sasuke. He inwardly sighed in relief that his dark-haired teammate was alive. Outwardly, however, he was less kind.

"Bastard," he growled, trying to ignore his back, "What happened? Where's Sasumi? Where's that crazy snake lady?"

"Stop moving. You're going to kill yourself."

Naruto stared at him. Sasuke sounded concerned. Was he dreaming?

"And if you die, our team will be disqualified."

Naruto refrained from rolling his eyes, remembering the fact that Sasuke was not a morning person. Typical bastard.

"Answer the questions, bastard!"

Naruto wanted answers, couldn't the bastard see that? Yes, Naruto liked the word 'bastard' very much, thank you.

"The 'crazy snake lady,' as you put it, is gone," Sasuke said.

"No, really!"

Sasuke whacked him on the head.

"Listen, will you!"

"Oww! You can't do that, I'm injured!"

"Watch me."

"Bastard."

Naruto glared at him, rubbing his head. Hitting an injured person? Had Sasuke no shame? Evidently not.

"Why did she leave?" he asked, after all wasn't she trying to kill them?

"Sasumi made him."

"_ Him? _That was a guy?" then it hit him, "Wait, did you say Sasumi?"

Sasuke nodded. Naruto just stared.

"How-" he started, "Wait, where is she anyway?"

Sasuke pointed somewhere behind his shoulder.

"She's unconscious," the dark-haired Genin explained, "That Orochimaru guy tried to do some jutsu on me and she…uh…stopped him."

"Orochimaru? Was that that crazy snake la-uh-man?" he paused. "Are you sure it was a guy, cause I was pretty sure that was a girl."

"He was wearing a disguise, moron."

"Oh."

That made sense. No, wait, no it didn't.

"Why would he wear a disguise?" he asked, now honestly confused.

And then it came to him, "Wait, is he one of those guys who like to dress up as girls? Weird. He totally had me fooled!"

"Naruto?"

"What?"

"Shut up."

Naruto glared up at him but decided not yell at him. He concentrated on pulling himself up. Once he got into a seated position he turned his head slightly and saw Sasumi lying a couple meters away. Her clothes were dirty, probably from lying in the dirt, but he could see no blood on her.

"Oi, Sasuke, what happened to her anyway, she doesn't look hurt."

"That Orochimaru guy bit her and then she collapsed."

Oh, well, that would explain why he didn't see any blood as Sasumi wore thick bandages on both arms and legs. He stopped and thought over what Sasuke had just said.

"Wait, did you say sh…he _bit_ her?"

"Yes."

Naruto gave up. There was no way he could understand it way.

"So, where's our scroll?"

Sasuke scowled, "That bastard burned it."

"WHAT! So, it's gone? That fu-"

"Shut up, you moron! Do you want to attract attention?!"

Naruto was too distracted to hear him. They had four days left to get two scrolls, before entering the forest he would have thought it was enough time, but now…

His thoughts were distracted by a shuffling noise behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the red-haired girl pulling herself into a sitting position.

"Oi, Sasumi, you're awake!"

"Sasumi, what happened?"

She shrugged, looking more tired than Naruto had ever seen her, "I don't know."

Her voice was monotone as usual. She sounded normal, well, as normal as she usually did. Which didn't make sense. Naruto turned toward Sasuke, intent on asking him what they should do now, but stopped when he saw the look on his face. Sasuke was looking at Sasumi warily, as if he suspected she was going to attack him. Confused, he looked back at Sasumi who was avoiding both their gazes.

_"Okay…is it just me or am I completely missing something?" _

"So," he said, breaking the awkward silence, "What are we going to do?"

Sasuke blinked and turn toward him, "We should keep moving. It might take us a few days to recover, though…"

"We don't have a few days, bastard!"

"I know that!" hissed his dark-haired teammate.

"If we don't keep moving, we'll get attacked."

"What's wrong with getting attacked? We'll just kick their asses and steal their scroll!"

Sasuke stared at him, "Okay moron, I'll make it simpler." Inwardly, Naruto seethed. " You are injured. Sasumi is recovering from a jutsu of some sort and I have not slept for more than twenty-four hours. Understand? If we get attacked, the chances of surviving are practically none. So let's move."

He pulled Naruto onto his back, to his displeasure, which did not go unheard.

"Put me down, bastard! Who the hell made you in charge?"

"Uzumaki-san, unless we want to get killed, moving is probably the only option we have right now."

Sasumi was talking? Amazing!

"Exactly," said Sasuke, grumpily, "Now stop struggling."

Sasumi and Sasuke may have teamed up against him, but if they thought they could make him shut up, they were in for a big surprise.

A day and a half later

"Naruto, if you don't shut up, I swear I'm going to-"

Naruto had recovered beautifully since the Orochimaru incident and now they were stalking a group a particularly unobservant nins from the Water Country. I mean, if they hadn't noticed them yet, a little talking wouldn't hurt, right?

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Bastard."

Sasuke glared at him, "Remember the plan, moron?" he whispered.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Sasumi?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then let's go!"

"Not yet, moron."

"Then when?"

"Now."

"What! You-"

Half an hour later they had gained a scroll (heaven) and Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the face of those poor Water nins once they realized they were in way over their heads. His snickering, however, seemed to bother his black-haired teammate, because he kept glaring at him.

Their luck ran out, unfortunately, when they couldn't seem to find any teams. They were resting by a stream and eating fish when Naruto came up with an ingenious plan. Yes, he was truly a genius. While he was looking at the scroll it came to him that if he had a scroll of approximately the same size he could make a copy of it. Now the only problem was the inside. When he explained this to Sasumi, however, she didn't agree with his thinking.

"Uzumaki-san, they told us to not open it for a reason. If we do we'll be disqualified."

"They won't even know, though. C'mon, Sasumi, loosen up!"

The red-haired girl blinked at him and then suddenly tensed. She stood up her hand gripping her kunai holder.

"Sasumi? What-"

"Don't move," she said, cutting him off.

"What-"

Suddenly she whirled around and then stopped, relaxing.

"Sasumi, what-" he started, but was cut off by someone else this time.

"You should listen to her, Naruto-kun. I wouldn't open that scroll if I were you."

"Huh?"

**Yakushi Kabuto stood before the surprised blond and his red-haired teammate who was apparently named 'Sasumi.' **Strange name. Fitting though, she certainly was a strange sight.

"Kabuto-san! What are you doing here?"

_"Making sure your team passes the exam, otherwise Orochimaru-sama would have my head," _he thought.

He was spared having to answer by the third member of their team rushing forward, looking warily at him.

"What do you want?" the Uchiha asked.

_"Well, Sasuke-kun certainly knows how to make friends." _

"I got separated from my team," he said, " I see you haven't come up with another scroll yet."

Immediately the boy scowled darkly.

_"Touchy, touchy." _

"You trying to steal our scroll?" He asked suspiciously

Kabuto sighed, "I don't need to. After all, I already have the two I need."

As he pulled out his two scrolls, the boy's eyes widened and he knew he had got him.

"Well, I'll be off now, nice seeing you."

He turned and walked away from them.

_"Wait for it…"_

"Wait!"

He turned around, looking at the black-haired boy expectantly.

"How about…you fight me."

He blinked for affect and put on a faintly surprised face, "A fight?"

"What the hell are you talking about, bastard! Kabuto-san helped us!"

The red-haired girl looked unperturbed.

"Shut up, this probably our last chance to get a scroll."

He smirked slightly; sometimes he was amazed at the stupidity of people.

"That's not true."

Both boys looked up at him in surprise and the girl's expression didn't change. Seriously, something about her annoyed him.

"Huh?" said the blond-haired boy intelligently.

After he explained to them that they could find teams easily if they moved toward the center of the forest, they followed him without a fight. Sasuke-kun was still suspicious of him and he was resigned to the fact that that would probably never change. By nightfall they could see the tower. It was when they began to move towards the tower that he sensed the genjutsu. He had thought that they had a long night ahead of them until the red-haired girl spoke up.  
"Where are you going?" she asked as they started off toward the tower.

"That tower place, Sasumi, haven't you been listening."

"The towers over there," she pointed to the left.

_"What? She saw through the genjutsu? But she didn't reject it!" _

"What are you talking about, Sasumi?" said Sasuke-kun, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

He saw something flicker in her eyes and then she looked towards him.

_"Interesting."_

"Genjutsu," he muttered, moving his hand in a hand seal, _"Kai!"_

The entire scenery changed and the tower appeared to have moved from where it had stood before them seconds ago to the left where Sasumi had pointed.

"What the heck did you do, Kabuto-san? Now it's over there!"

"It was an illusion," he said calmly, "Which means we are being watched."

As if on cue, three nins dropped from the trees. Before preparing himself to fight, Kabuto felt a huge amount of killing intent, but only for a second. The only thing that worried him slightly was the fact that it hadn't emanated from the nins before him, but from behind him, where a certain red-haired girl stood.

**Sasumi ignored the stabbing pains that were crawling up her arm. **She was surprised that she had survived at all and was determined not to break her cover now. If only that Yakushi Kabuto hadn't shown up. She couldn't relax for a second with him around. She knew he had no intent of killing them, but after seeing his memories it made her uneasy being around him.

And then there were the nins from the Village of the Hidden Rain. Thankfully all of them were older than her and hadn't recognized her, if they had it would have been disastrous. In fact, there were a lot of nins from that village, but she doubted any would recognize her. Or even look at her. As she had sifted through their memories she had actually found images of herself as a child that they had gained from passing her on the street. It scared her how much she hated them, just because of the symbol they wore on their headbands. For a second she had let those feelings out and she was sure that the Sound nin noticed. Great. Another thing, he would tell Orochimaru about her. And of course, as soon as they gained their second scroll, Yakushi's teammates had shown up.

Now she stood in a room of the tower being lectured by the Sandaime Hokage, trying not to show any indication that she was in pain.

He explained that there needed to be a preliminary match, because of the high amount of Genin that had made it to the third part of the exam. Then some Jounin who looked like he would fall over any second took over and then Yakushi left because supposedly he lost his hearing in one of his ears. Naruto was devastated. Sasuke was slightly suspicious and relieved. She had mixed feelings. She was glad he was out of the way, for now, but also now that he was out of the Chuunin Exam he would have a chance to talk to Orochimaru, who just happened to be standing in the corner.

_"Someone notice!" _Sasumi inwardly begged.

If he attacked her teammate again her cover surely would be broken. Another wave of pain came over her and she dug her nails into her palms. Orochimaru would definitely pay for this. She noticed Kakashi looking over at them and she forced herself to appear to be paying attention. This was not how she imagined the Exam to be like at all. It couldn't get much worse than this, she thought as she watched Sasuke and one of Yakushi's teammates face off. How wrong she was.

**Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I would mention your names but…yeah, I'm lazy. I know this chapter was mostly a recap of the manga, but next chapter will be fun. Lots of violence and curse seal action! Kukuku! Points for anyone who knows what that means! Anyway, next chapter will have what seems like Ino bashing, but I'll have an explanation at the end. So don't hate me. Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Sleeping Soundly. Please review! **


	8. Mistake

Chapter Seven-

**Gaara watched Uchiha fight, **rather badly, with one of the other Leafs whose name he did not care to know. Maybe he wasn't worth it after all. His opponent seemed to be able to suck the chakra out of a person, but besides that he was weak. Gaara watched listlessly as Uchiha was slowly weakened every second. He didn't know why his opponent was playing with him. He should just kill him. It wouldn't be that hard. All he would have to do was pull out his kunai and lodge it in his throat or he could slice his heart open or…

Uchiha disappeared. He blinked and then suddenly he was right in front of his opponent and he kicked him hard in the chest. His opponent was thrown into the air and a second later Uchiha was behind him. He saw his mouth move but he couldn't hear what he was saying, because Uchiha's blonde teammate was yelling at him. What a loser. It looked like the blond had gotten hurt, because the back of his jacket was ripped and was stained with blood, but Gaara couldn't see any cuts.

Uchiha kicked his opponent in midair, but the kick was blocked. He kicked him again, hit him, and then punched him downward until they were just about to hit the floor. Uchiha slammed his opponent straight into the floor. Gaara raised his non-existent eyebrows in surprise. Maybe he was worth fighting after all.

The next fight was between a Sound and a Leaf. Neither of them were very good and the Leaf ended up wining when the Sound blew his own arms off. How weak. Gaara was bored already.

Kankurou was next and Gaara didn't even bother paying attention. He had seen his brother's puppets before and had completely lost any interest in them whatsoever. However, he did start to pay attention when it appeared that his brother's neck had been broken.

_"Ch. How useless."_

Unfortunately, his brother was not dead, but had switched places with one of his puppets. Damn.

The next fight was between two of the Leaf Kunoichi. They sparred for a bit and the blonde one kept yelling at the redhead to do something instead of just dodge her attacks. The redhead didn't say anything, which infuriated the blonde even more. Gaara watched in utter boredom as they fought. Until the blonde girl finally lost it.

"Will you just fight me, already, you FREAK!"

**Naruto narrowed his eyes at Ino's last statement. **Okay, so Sasumi was a little weird, but that gave Ino no right to call her a freak. He clenched his fists in anger and Sasuke's questioning look didn't go unnoticed by him. By her next actions, it seemed that Sasumi didn't quite like what Ino had said either.

**Sasumi was not in a good mood, **she had spent the last few days in forest full of enemies, not to mention deadly animals, poisonous flora, and Orochimaru. And the fact that the only time she had slept was after she was cursed didn't make things any better. So she was tired, her arm was throbbing painfully, and was now forced to fight that Yamanaka girl. At first, she had simply dodged her attacks. Her pride wasn't going to let her lose, but at least she should win without arousing too much suspicion. If only she could think of an inconspicuous way, because she really didn't need any more people suspicious of her, she already had enough too deal with. Yamanaka Ino wasn't pleased that that she wasn't doing anything, and even more aggravated when she couldn't land a hit on her. She yelled at her a bit and finally it was too much for her. And then she said it.

Sasumi shouldn't have gotten mad. She should have just ignored the comment. But she was feeling horrible and the curse was taking all her self-control to hold back. So she let go. She let out all the anger of being useless in their missions to the unfairness of life in general. But the main reason she did it was that Yamanaka Ino reminded her of that girl. She even dressed like her and wore her hair the same way. And that scared her.

A burning sensation traveled up from her already aching arm and spread across her entire body. She wouldn't realize until later that her body was covered with black markings.

Her first hit landed under her opponents chin throwing her upward. Then she kicked her in the chest and Yamanaka Ino hit the wall with a scream, blood trickling down her chin. But Sasumi wasn't finished yet. The blonde stood up shakily, spitting out blood. In a second Sasumi was before her, her arm moving on its own to grab her by the throat and slam her into the wall again.

_**"Take. It. Back!"**_ she snarled.

She came back to her senses and attempted to remove her hand from her throat. But instead her hand tightened and her opponent struggled weakly, still coughing out blood. The people in the stadium were yelling, but she didn't and couldn't stop.

_"What the hell is going on? I can't control my body!"_

She tried to move her hand, but it was no use. Her body was wired with too much power and it couldn't cope. Finally, she focused on moving her bad arm, ignoring the pain spiking up the limb. She closed her fingers around the arm that pinned her opponent to the wall and pulled hard. Slowly, her hand was pulled away from Yamanaka Ino's throat and both girls fell to the floor. Her right arm moved against her will and she pinned it to the floor with her bad arm, ignoring the urge to scream. No matter how much she tried her right arm wouldn't stop struggling to break free and her self-control was slowly crumbling under the increasing pain. So she did the only thing she could, she released the arm and raised her left arm high above her head and brought it down with a crack.

She shook slightly and hunched over, both arms now rendered useless. She couldn't seem to get enough oxygen into her lungs and her head was spinning. She barely registered Naruto's yell and the fact that both of her teammates had jumped down from the balcony. She only felt one person's stare. She turned her head slowly are stared right back into his eyes. She felt a strange prickling in her eye, a sign that they were beginning to darken. When she got the chance, she was going to _kill_ him.

_"Get out. Or I'll expose you," _she thought, _"Orochimaru." _

He seemed to get the hint and quickly left. She relaxed completely then and fell backward, only to be held up by her sensei's knee.

"Sasumi, what…?"

She moved her eyes slowly to look at Naruto, who was staring at her seriously. She was kind of surprised; she had expected them to be scared of her. Apparently they weren't. She didn't answer him, but continued to breathe in and out, waiting until her breath slowed down. She heard the examiner announce her victory and then the medical crew and her sensei tried to get her to come with them. She ignored them all and stood up shakily, cursing her body for its weakness.

"Sasumi, where are you going?"

"The hospital," she said, slightly surprised at how even her voice was.

She left them standing in the middle of the stadium floor, every single person in the room staring at her back. She took the crowded roads, aware that Orochimaru could be watching her. She ignored the stares of the villagers. She reached the hospital and asked for Hanada Michiko. The woman came out shortly.

"Sasumi-san, what happened?"

She inwardly sighed, "I have a problem, Hanada-san."

**Kakashi stared at the retreating back of his student. **He supposed he could always seal her arm later. What bothered him more was that she had broken her _own_ arm to stop it from moving out of control. She hadn't even flinched, much less cry out. He glanced at the Hokage who was looking after her seriously. He, Naruto, and Sasuke, moved back up to the balcony as the exam moved on, but he could tell they weren't really paying attention.

In the beginning, when they had first all been on a team together, they hadn't been close at all. Sasuke and Naruto hated each other and Sasumi ignored them both and vice-versa. He wondered what cause them to become so close.

They did get slightly involved in the fights when the Hyuuga cousins began their fight. Kakashi made a note to never, ever watch a fight with Naruto again. He wondered briefly, if anyone could make Naruto shut up. Somehow he doubted it. When it was Naruto's turn to fight, Kakashi wondered if he actually had any energy left to fight with, after all that yelling. But then he remembered that Naruto had a huge amount of stamina. Naruto's fight against the Inuzuka boy was very…random. It was basically them running around throwing attacks at each other, at least in the beginning. Kakashi had to say he was impressed with Naruto's timing and strategy. He had to admit that he wasn't exactly expecting Naruto to win.

And then there was that Sabaku no Gaara kid. What was that sand jutsu? He had never seen anything like it and he had been to the Wind Country on occasion. He felt bad for Gai's student; the boy apparently would never be able to be a shinobi again. The remaining contestants were paired up for the next fight, which would take place in a month. Naruto was to fight the Hyuuga boy and Sasuke, Gaara. If he didn't train Sasuke he would end up the same way as Gai's student. And besides, he could teach him Chidori. He'd have to find someone for Naruto and Sasumi would probably have to forfeit because of her broken arm. She would be up against that Temari of the Sand and he doubted against that powerful fan of hers she could win. Even if she used the curse seal's power.

The second the preliminaries were over he was planning on talking to Sasuke about training only to find that both he and Naruto were gone. He knew where they were, though. He walked over to the hospital and asked for Yamaki Sasumi.

"Third Floor, room 356," the man at the front desk told him, "Please act appropriately."

He walked up two flights of stairs and looked around for room 356, but he needn't have bothered.

"SASUMI, WILL YOU TELL US WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

"You moron, this is a hospital! Shut up or they'll throw us out!"

"B-but she-"

"Uzumaki-san, I don't know what happened, therefore, I can't tell you."

Kakashi walked in to see Naruto and Sasuke standing around Sasumi who wore a cast and was sitting up in bed, a book in her lap.

"Kakashi-sensei, do _you_ know what happened?"

"Yes," he said wearily, not looking forward to explaining things.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him expectantly.

"Well, I'm assuming you met Orochimaru, right?"

Sasuke nodded, but Naruto seemed confused.

"Huh, Orochimaru? Who's that?"

Sasuke glared at him, "Remember that guy who attacked us with the snakes."

"Oh, you mean that weird cross dresser guy?"

Kakashi blinked, "Cross dresser?"

"Yeah, I totally thought he was a girl!"

_"I'm not going to ask," _he thought. _**"I'm not going to ask." **_

"Right. Well, he cursed Sasumi and that caused her body to spin out of control."

"Oh. And her arm…" Naruto trailed off, looking at Sasumi.

"I had to break it," she said emotionlessly.

There was a pregnant pause.

"How is Yamanaka Ino-san?" She asked, her face betraying no emotion as usual.

"She'll be okay. A couple of her ribs are broken, but nothing permanent." Was it just his imagination or did Sasumi actually look a bit uncomfortable?

"Also, I need to seal up that curse seal, otherwise you won't be able to use your chakra." Come to think of it, the only time Sasumi had ever used her chakra was when they were climbing trees in the Wave Country.

"It's already sealed," she told him.

He blinked in surprise as she withdrew her chakra for about a minute, without losing control of her body.

"Who-" he began but the doctor, who looked strangely familiar, walked in and told them that visiting hours were over and that they had to leave.

As soon as they left the hospital, he told Sasuke that he would be training him and to meet him tomorrow. He also introduced Naruto to Ebisu, who would be training him. Naruto apparently already had met him and called him a 'closet pervert' and said something about a 'Harem no Jutsu.' Kakashi didn't ask. He really had no interest in knowing.

**Michiko quietly closed the door behind her.**

"Thank you," Sasumi-san said softly.

"Now will you tell me what happened?" Michiko asked impatiently.

The red-haired girl gestured to her right arm, which hung in a sling at her side. "My arm was broken and I don't trust anyone else but you."

Michiko had to admit that that comment made her feel very nice.

"Was?" She asked, frowning slightly.

"I healed it," Sasumi-san said, "But I don't want them to know that I can."

Michiko blinked in surprise; the girl could heal herself too. That was a very powerful skill, and involved great chakra control.

"This has something to do with your Kekkai Genkai, doesn't it?"

Sasumi-san nodded.

"Alright, I won't ask anymore about it."

"Thank you," the girl said again.

"What about this Yamanaka Ino girl?"

The girl didn't say anything for a while, as if she was trying to figure out what she was going to say.

"You know the Chuunin Exam is going on," It was not a question. "She was my opponent. I-" she paused again, "I went a bit…hard on her."

Michiko briefly wondered if a bit meant a few broken ribs, what did going all out mean?

"Do you need anything?" she asked her. Without waiting for an answer she said, "I'll go get you some food."

She knew the Sasumi-san wouldn't ask for anything, so she would just have to guess what she needed and get it without asking her. As she was in the kitchen, she remembered that Sasumi had been reading a book before she came in. She also remembered the last time she was here she saw her reading a lot of books. Maybe she could get her something to read while she was at the hospital. On her way back from a local bookstore Michiko wondered if this was how a mother acted about her child. Then Michiko did something that she had not done in almost ten years. She smiled.

**Orochimaru sat on the top of a building, **thinking of what his next move should be. Marking Sasuke-kun could wait until after he defeated the Leaf. Orochimaru was confident that with the help of the Sand, his forces could break through the Leaf's defenses. However, defeating his old sensei would be a problem. Disguised as the Kazekage, Orochimaru would have no problem killing him when he wasn't paying attention. But Orochimaru wanted him to pay attention. He wanted the entire world to know that he could beat Sarutobi in a fair fight. He would have to be extra careful, who knew what kind of tricks were up the older man's sleeve. But he could not fail, everything was leaning in his favor and the Sand wouldn't know he had betrayed them until it was too late. And then no one could stop him from taking Sasuke-kun's body. Smirking evilly, he disappeared, leaving no trace that he was ever there.

**Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and hunched over breathing heavily. **He had been training for more than a week. and he couldn't even get the basic form of Chidori. Kakashi assured him that this was normal and that it would take a long time for him to prefect it, but Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit put out. It wasn't like he expected he would complete the jutsu in a day, but he thought he could at least form it after a week. However, if he could kill Itachi with this Chidori, then Sasuke supposed he could stand here for years.

"A few more times, Sasuke," Kakashi said, "You're getting better, but it will take time."

Sasuke scowled and complied. Naruto had passed the preliminaries as well and there was no way that Sasuke was going to be beaten by him, though he had to admit, Naruto didn't have much of a chance against Hyuuga Neji. Sasuke gritted his teeth and put all of his energy into making the jagged chakra coming out of his hand turn into a ball. To his surprise, for a second, it actually did. However, he had exerted himself too much and this resulted in him falling to the ground, breathing harder than ever.

"Good job, Sasuke," his sensei said, his mask stretching slightly show that he was smiling, "Now take a break and then do it again."

Despite the fact that Kakashi was going out of his way to help him, Sasuke really wanted to throw something at him.

**"Ero-sennin, will you look at what I'm doing!!" **

Naruto glared at the frog sennin's back, scowling angrily. Why were all his teachers such perverts?

"Go on, brat. I'm watching."

"No, you're not!" he yelled childishly, "You're watching those girls over there!"  
"I'm watching both of you."

"Liar! You're such a pervert!"

When the sennin didn't answer Naruto tiptoed behind him and whacked him hard on the head.

"You little brat! What the hell was that for?"

"Pay attention to me!"

Ero-sennin glared at him, "Brat."

"Pervert!" He retaliated.

"All right, let's see what you can do."

"Yes!"

Naruto jumped back to his original spot. He concentrated on pulling all his chakra out.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, a tadpole appeared.

"Heh, heh, heh…"

"BRAAAAAT!"

Oh shit.

**Yamanaka Ino groaned and pulled her blonde hair out of her eyes for the billionth time that day. **She was seriously thinking about getting it cut.

She was bored out of her mind. Sure Shikamaru and Choji visited almost everyday, but most of the time she sat in bed staring at the wall. Having broken ribs sucked ass. For one she couldn't slouch and two, well, she was stuck here. Ino didn't blame Yamaki that much. After all, the point of the tournament was to knock out your opponent…All right, so maybe she had developed a tiny grudge against her. At least until her sensei explained a couple things to her.

Asuma-sensei had told her that Yamaki had some sort of curse put on her during the second part of the exam and that she couldn't control her own body, which made Ino feel kind of bad for calling her a freak. She lay back down on the bad, getting too tired of sitting up straight. Her parents had come to visit her, but her father was too busy doing missions and her mother ran the family flower shop, so they only came once. Her father was proud of her for making it that far in the Chuunin Exam and consoled her by telling her that he had taken the Chuunin Exam four times before passing. Her mother, on the other hand, was horrified. It was understandable, after all, her mother wasn't a ninja, but her mother's nagging got annoying after a while. So Ino was closer to her father than her mother, what was the big deal? Actually a lot of people thought she didn't have a mother at all because her supposed lack of femininity. Hell, she had long hair and wore the skimpiest outfit a Kunoichi could get away with. What was not feminine about her?

Okay, maybe Ino didn't act like the model subservient young girl. Even as a Kunoichi, she was loud, out-spoken and aggressive. A lot of people told her to quiet down or to act more lady-like. She tried it once; well, she got tired of it real fast. Now, if someone told her that she would just punch him or her right in the face…or something like that.

Damn. Now she was in a really bad mood and had nothing to take her anger out on. Or not. The door opened and she was just about to yell at the nurse to go away when she realized it was not the nurse at all. Ino pulled herself up, wincing slightly. It was Yamaki. She was wearing a sling and had cast on her arm. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, how had she broken her arm?

"What do you want?" Ino asked her, not keeping the annoyance out of her voice.

She then realized that yelling at her probably wasn't a good idea.

The red-haired girl bowed slightly, "I'm sorry, Yamanaka-san. Please forgive me," she said emotionlessly.

Ino blinked in surprise. Yamanaka-san? People called her father and mother that, never _her_.

"No, that's fine," she said, laughing nervously, "I kind of deserved it…" she trailed off.

There was an awkward silence.

"Hey," she said, not exactly sure what she was going to say, "Why don't we just put this behind us, ne?"

The other girl blinked in surprise and then nodded slowly.

"Let's shake on it," she said, sticking out her hand and smiling.

The girl tentatively reached out her non-broken arm and shook her hand. As she drew her hand back Ino suddenly got an idea. Her mother was going to freak, but Ino didn't give a damn.

"Oi, Sasumi, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes…"

"How do you get your hair like that? I mean, I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while and I really like your haircut."

"…Well, I usually just cut it when it reached my shoulders or my bangs get in my eyes."

"I hate when my hair gets in my eyes," Ino complained, "It's so annoying."

Sasumi just nodded.

"Hey, do you think you can cut my hair?"

"…Okay."

"Yes!" She yelled, completely forgetting to keep her voice down, "You're the best, Sasumi!"

The other girl's small smile didn't go unnoticed by Ino.

**A/N: The eighth installment is done! Okay, about Ino. She's the type of person (at least in this fic) who does stuff before she thinks. Basically why she calls Sasumi a freak is that she's spent the last five days in a forest and she just wants to get her fight over with and Sasumi isn't letting her. She loses her temper. It happens people. Hell, even I would call Sasumi a freak! …Actually, no, I wouldn't, because since I made her up I know she would kill me. Anyway, next chapter: final part of the Chuunin Exam and the war with the Sand, I think. To my wonderful beta: You're awesome, this fic would not make sense without you!**


	9. Confusion in War

Chapter Eight-

**Sasumi paged through the books Hanada-san had brought her. **Hanada-san had done everything she could to ensure Sasumi's happiness while she was at the hospital, and Sasumi couldn't help but feel a little strange about it. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful, it just was that no one had ever cared so much about her that they would bring her books to read when she was bored, or sit with her during their lunch hour instead of doing something else. It was a nice feeling, but still a little strange. After sealing her arm, which was very painful, not to mention hard, she had healed her broken arm and only wore the cast for show. She had visited Ino everyday since she asked her to cut her hair. At first Sasumi wasn't sure that Ino really wanted to be her friend, but the girl seemed genuinely warm towards her and Sasumi had too admit that once she got to know her, Ino was a very interesting person. Mostly Ino just talked to her, but Sasumi was glad, because she really had no idea what to talk to the other girl about anyway. Sasumi had always made sure she wasn't in the room when her teammates visited, partly because she wanted to give them privacy, and partly because she wanted to stay as far away from Nara Shikamaru as possible. Sasumi wasn't really sure why she ended up staying in the hospital the entire month, it just happened.

Finally, it was the day of last part of the Exam. And the day the Sand and Sound would attack. She had delivered an anonymous note to the Hokage about the Sand, the Sound, but she still felt guilty that she couldn't do more. Well, she could, but then her cover would go out the window. The match schedule had been revised excluding her and a Sound nin who had apparently resigned. She wasn't really worried about Naruto's match, after all he had more power than he knew, and the examiner could control the Hyuuga. Sasuke's match, however, was a different matter all together. She was pretty sure that none of the Sand had been kind enough to inform the Leaf that Sabaku no Gaara was the holder of the Ichibi. However, she doubted the Leaf had told the Sand anything about Naruto either, so she couldn't blame the Sand entirely.

She sat in the bleachers now, reading her book with one hand, something she had become very skilled at over the years, waiting for the exam to begin. Ino was with her team, something Sasumi was very glad of because at this time it would be best if she didn't know anyone around her. She didn't know exactly when the Sound were going to attack, but she knew it would probably happen sometime soon. It was horrible, just sitting there, waiting for them to do something. Every second seemed to make the tension worse instead of better and Sasumi found herself just wishing the day would end. Preferably with Konoha intact. However, she doubted her wish would be heeded. After what seemed like forever the first match started. In her opinion, Hyuuga Neji was too arrogant and self-absorbed for his own good. He felt that just because of his Kekkai Genkai he was superior to Naruto. In a way she supposed, he was, but that didn't mean Naruto couldn't best him in a fight. And best him Naruto did. However, not in the way Sasumi expected at all.

He used the Kyuubi's power.

Just the thought made Sasumi surprised, confused and a little scared all at the same time. Who had taught Naruto how to do that? She was pretty sure the Jounin that Kakashi had Naruto work with hadn't done that. But that was the least of her worries, because the more Naruto used the Kyuubi's power, the weaker the seal grew. And if the seal broke…the Kyuubi would be released. But she would have to worry about that later, because Sasuke still wasn't there. She hoped he wouldn't show up because she didn't want him to fight with Sabaku no Gaara. He was a lot stronger than Kakashi knew, which made the odds of Sasuke coming out of the fight unscathed, much less defeating Gaara, very low. The next match between Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Gaara's elder sister confirmed (once again) her fears about the Nara. She really was very lucky she wasn't on a team with him. What surprised her about this match was that after immobilizing the Sand nin, Nara decided that he was bored and gave up. Much to Naruto and Ino's astonishment. Naruto jumped down and began to yell at Nara. Despite the situation, Sasumi had to hold back her smile. Naruto never failed to amuse her with his antics. When Sasuke and her sensei arrived, in a cloud of leaves making Sasumi raise her eyebrows a bit, Naruto quieted down and both her teammates suddenly looked serious. She turned her attention to Sabaku no Gaara who was wearing a look that didn't exactly calm her nerves. She watched him leave and then looked to the stadium again and found to her horror that Nara and Naruto were taking the same stairs as the Sand nin. Her right hand gripped the inside of her cast as she stood up slowly and made her way unobtrusively toward the stairs. She froze as the scent of blood penetrated her nose.

"Oh, no. He couldn't have…" 

She walked quickly toward the scent until she came upon the sight of two dead Chuunin, their blood staining the floor of the worn down hallway. The tightness that had built up in her chest dissipated and suddenly she felt very lightheaded. As she took several steadying breaths she failed to notice Naruto and Nara running down the hallway toward her.

"Sasumi?"

She looked up, startled, to see them staring at her.

She suddenly felt the need to explain herself, "I smelt blood and I thought…" she trailed off, "We should go back up there."

"Yeah, we have to stop that match!"

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Stop the match?"

"That guy wants to kill Sasuke, he lives to kill people and if we don't stop him…"

She blinked, he was babbling now in…fear? For Sasuke? Or was it because of what he had just seen?

"They have Jounin refereeing the match for a reason," she said, "They'll stop the match if it gets too violent."

"B-but what if Sasuke ends up like that fuzzy eyebrows guy? We have to-"

Nara held up his hand to stop him, "She has a point, you know. The Jounin know what that Gaara guy is like now. They should be able to control him."

Naruto didn't look convinced.

"Ch. How troublesome," Nara looked down at the remains of the two Chuunin.

"Let's go, Uzumaki-san. I'm sure Uchiha-san will be fine."

The three of them walked up to the balcony too see Sasuke standing on one side of the stadium's wall and a huge ball of sand that presumably enveloped Gaara in the middle.

"What are they _doing_?" asked Naruto.

Suddenly a huge ball of blue lightning erupted from Sasuke's hand, which Sasumi recognized as the same jutsu Kakashi used during their trip to the Wave Country called 'Chidori.' Naruto and Nara both looked shocked, as well as did the rest of the audience. Sasuke ran down toward the ball of sand with speed that Sasumi didn't know he had. His Chidori broke the ball of sand and she heard unintelligible screams come from inside the dome. Naruto looked kind of jealous. Sasuke pulled his hand out and with it came a strange looking arm. The Ichibi's arm. Sasumi inhaled sharply. If Gaara had let the Ichibi out…there was bound to be a lot of trouble. But then the arm retracted leaving a hole. Sasumi couldn't see what was inside but Sasuke could. And by the look on his face it was nothing good. The ball of sand fell apart and Sasumi braced herself. Luckily, what immerged was not a demon, but a very human Gaara with blood running down his shoulder. Before he could do anything Sasumi noticed that Naruto and a bunch of people around her were…falling asleep? A few of the Jounin made hand seals, which protected them from whatever, it was.

"Uzumaki-san? What-" Then in a flash she realized it.

_"Genjutsu!!"_

She grabbed Naruto by the shoulder, ignoring the pain in her arm. He immediately opened his eyes.

"What the hell was-" he stopped staring the scene before them. The entire crowd around them was either asleep or engaged in battle. Gaara's siblings stood in the middle of the arena, though not for long. After all they left, carrying Gaara, the instructor said something to Sasuke and he followed them. Sasumi's eyes widened as she realized what he was doing.

_"This is way out of control! If Uchiha-san catches up to that Gaara…he's dead."_

**Nara Shikamaru lay on the floor, **doing what he did best: playing dead. In his opinion, whoever decided that today would be a good day to start a war was plain insane. He didn't know why the Sand had decided to betray them and he really didn't care. All that was on his mind right now was finding a way to stay alive and the easiest way at that.

_"How troublesome," _he thought,_ "What's the point of starting a war anyway?" _

_**"A-class? What…Sasuke…that…alright."**_

Shikamaru strained to hear what was going on. He was pretty sure that it was Naruto who was talking.

"Hurry…Shikamaru…get…back…Sasuke…" said who he was pretty sure was Hatake Kakashi. Oh, no way were they involving him! Suddenly he felt a bite on his leg. 

"Ite!! What the hell was that?!"

He sat up to see Naruto, Shino, and that weird girl Sasumi crouching down next to him.

"Hey, you bastard! You were pretending to be asleep the whole time, weren't you? Huh?"

"Ch, excuse me if I don't want to get killed. And I don't care about Sasuke either, so…"

The small dog bit him again.

"Why you little-"

"C'mon! We got to go!" Naruto looked like he was about to wet himself.

A Sound nin appeared behind Naruto. Before he could say or do anything. The sensei with huge eyebrows and a weird haircut punched him through the wall.

"Hurry up, now," said Kakashi, "Naruto and Shino will explain to you what your mission is on the way."

He turned around to whack another enemy nin across the room.

_"Great. Exactly what I __**didn't**__ want to do today. Stupid Sand and their stupid war." _

"I'm coming too."

He turned around to see the red-haired girl in a cast behind him.

"But Sasumi what about your-"

She cut him off, "I still have one arm. Let's go."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, _"How troublesome."_

Naruto briefly explained that Sasuke had ran off after the three Sand nin, which in Shikamaru's opinion wasn't very smart, and that their job was to stop him and bring him back. The four of them (plus the dog which was following Sasuke's scent) had only been running for five minutes when the dog told them that there were nine Sound nin tracking them.

"Great! Just what we need! Since they're probably all above Chuunin level we'll be annihilated!!"

"Shit, how about we wait until they pass by and ambush them?!" Naruto yelled with vigor.

"That sounds advisable," said Shino.

The red-haired girl didn't say anything.

"They're Sound nin though," the dog cut in, "Which means they were former ninja of Konoha."

"Shit! I guess it's no use then!"

"Huh?" said Naruto intelligently.

He attempted to explain to him what was vital to an ambush, but he didn't think Naruto understood. Idiot.

"The only way we can get out of this is if one of us becomes a decoy and distracts them, however, that person will probably die."

Naruto looked crestfallen, but the others showed no change of expression.

"So…who's going to do it?"

He weighed their chances and was dismayed to find that the person who had the best chance of surviving and distracting the enemy was probably him.

"Alright, I'll-"

He cut the blond off, " I guess I'm the only one…" he sighed. Stupid war!

"I see," said Shino, "Your Kagemune no Jutsu…"

Shikamaru was surprised; he had expected that he would have to explain it to them. He grabbed a tree branch and flipped himself so that he was on top of it.

"Shikamaru…" Naruto sounded uncertain.

"Hurry up! I'll catch up with you later."

Naruto and Shino turned to go but Sasumi didn't. He saw her bite her lip slightly and her hand grip the inside of her cast. He opened his mouth to say something, but she beat him to it.

"I'll come with you."

"What?"

Naruto had turned around and was staring at her.

"One person won't be enough. Besides, if you trap them with your jutsu and miss just one they'll kill you right there."

Shikamaru blinked in surprise. Well that was…logical.

"But what about Sasuke?" he argued.

"We're wasting time arguing," she gestured to Naruto and Shino, "Go."

"Sasumi…" Naruto trailed off, "We're counting on you two."

Shikamaru just waved, still shocked at Sasumi's behavior. He never knew she was so…troublesome. It made sense though, she was a girl, after all. He watched the two of them run off.

"Right… We'll block this way. You stand behind a tree on one side and I'll stand on the other. I'll trap them with my jutsu and you take them out… you can throw with your left hand, right?" She nodded. "Good. If I miss one, you'll have to deal with them, alright?" She nodded again. He didn't have enough time to say anything else because they were running out of time to lay false tracks. After they were done they stood on opposite sides of the grass path and waited until the Nin came. And come they did. Quickly he ensnared them with his jutsu.

_"Heh, that was easy. Too easy. The last one is probably hiding somewhere." _

He counted them and found there were only eight. Sasumi drew some shuriken and threw it towards them. But, before they reached their targets a barrage of assorted kunai and shuriken hit them out of the way.

"To the left, Sasumi!"

She threw a few kunai up into a tree on the left side of the path. They were blocked and the last nin dropped out of the tree.

"Nice try, brats," he said, a smirk evident upon his face, "But you can't keep that jutsu up forever…"

_"He's right. I don't even have the strength to create another shadow to trap him."_

Finally, all his chakra was used up and the jutsu disintegrated.

"Go find the other two," the last nin ordered.

_"SHIT!"_

He pulled out a kunai and launched it at them but it was easily blocked. Dammit, he had so many ideas, but no power! Four nin attempted to break past him and Sasumi and both of them launched their weapons at them. Shikamaru was not surprised when his were blocked, but he was when two of Sasumi's kunai found their marks in through two of the Sound nin throats. He glanced at her noticed she was sweating heavily. Shit, they were **so** dead! The two nin that Sasumi hadn't killed disappeared after Naruto and Shino and Shikamaru didn't have the strength to think or do something about them. Suddenly the remaining nin were all around them.

"Now," said one of them, "Let's finish this."

He attempted to kick one out the way, but his foot was caught and he was thrown against a tree. He barely rolled out of the way in time to avoid a barrage of shuriken. He heard a yell and a crash a Sound nin was kicked out of the way. He picked himself up and stood back to back with Sasumi in the center of the path surrounded by angry Sound nin, whose numbers seemed to have depleted since he last checked. Hadn't there been five of them? Now there were four and one lay on the ground a kunai through his throat. Sasumi had done that? Ever since the preliminaries he had known that she was stronger than she looked, but hadn't the whole thing with Ino have to do with some sort of curse jutsu? That's what Asuma said anyway. There were no strange marks on her now so did that mean it hadn't anything to do with the curse? He inwardly shook himself. They had more pressing matters to worry about. One of the nin made a hand seal and suddenly he blew fire out of his mouth. He pushed Sasumi out of the way and threw himself to the right. Pain erupted in his shoulder and he looked down to see a kunai lodged there, just above his lungs.

_"Shit, that hurts!"_

Blood trickled down his shoulder, staining his shirt. A hand grasped his throat, cutting off his air supply. He choked trying, to force the hand off, but he was too tired and he had no energy left.

_"Is this it? I'm going to die right here choked to death by some stupid Sound nin? Ch, how troubleso…"_

Something fell onto his chest. It was heavy. The hand around his throat loosened and he gasped for air. He looked at the thing on his chest and froze. It was a head. The severed head of the nin who had previously been choking him. Above him stood Sasumi, her arm that was formerly in a cast covered in blood. The cast had been stripped off and from the motion she just made with that arm made it clear that it was definitely not broken. He was just about to ask what the hell was going on when two other Sound nin came up behind her.

"Sasumi! BEHIND YOU!"

She whirled around, but they were stopped before she could do anything. Asuma had both of them under his arms and snapped their necks like twigs. Shikamaru pushed the dead body off him and then noticed that Sasumi's arm was wrapped up again as if she had never moved it. He saw behind Asuma another nin who had fallen victim to Asuma's power.

"Geez, you two put up one hell of a fight."

"Asuma…" He coughed out painfully.

"Let's see that shoulder of yours." He knelt down and pulled the kunai out of his shoulder slowly. Shikamaru cried out in pain and dug his hands into the ground. He barely heard his sensei ask Sasumi if she was okay. He looked up to see her nod, breathing as if he had run the marathon.

"They must not have been very strong." He heard Asuma say, "You'd think Orochimaru's underlings would be at least Chuunin level."

_"They were Chuunin level! That's exactly the point, they were Chuunin level and she killed four of them!" _he wanted to yell, but he felt very weak and couldn't do anything but sit there.

"I think it's all over now. When I left they were clearing out the bodies." Asuma lit a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth, "Yamaki, take Shikamaru to the hospital. You shouldn't run into anymore trouble. Good job, both of you."

The red-haired girl nodded and draped his arm over her shoulder. On the way there Shikamaru fell asleep from pure fatigue and confusion.

**Shino dodged the kunai that the Sound nin threw at him**. He and Naruto had been forced to split up after two Sound nin had attacked from out of nowhere. Naruto had followed Pakun, after Shino had taken one out just by chance and the remaining nin went after him instead. He sent some bugs to suck up his opponent's chakra and he could tell his opponent wouldn't last much longer. Finally he collapsed and Shino turned back towards where Uzumaki Naruto and the dog Pakun had gone. It wasn't hard to find them; in fact he could smell them after traveling in one direction for a few minutes. He came upon the scene of burnt trees and soon spotted a blotch of orange in the distance. He lay unconscious on the ground. It looked like he had dragged himself a few feet forward and stopped; amazingly there was hardly any blood on him. Uchiha Sasuke, however, was a different story all together. When he first saw him, he thought for sure he was dead. His blood was everywhere. It was dripping down from a branch where he lay and Shino felt sick. Then he saw his chest rise. His breath was shallow, but he was alive. Shino took off his jacket and secured it around a huge gash around the other boy's middle that seemed to be the source of most of the blood. He was slightly confused. What had happened here? He was sure that that Sabaku no Gaara, if he had won a fight with them, would not have left them alive. Yet Uzumaki Naruto was barely hurt at all. Had he beaten the Sand nin after his teammate became injured? Or was he merely rendered unconscious after he interrupted their fight? Either way, the Sand nin was no longer there, something Shino was very glad of. A few nin who were scouting the area found him and they took all three of them to the hospital. Shino was pleased to find that Nara Shikamaru and Yamaki Sasumi were alive, though; the Nara was unconscious and hadn't woken up yet. After receiving a light checkup, he was deemed fit enough to go home and was surprised to find that half his house was in pieces. His father said something about giant snakes and Orochimaru. Shino just wanted to go to sleep.

**A/N: Uggh…you would not believe how long it took for me to finish this chapter. Anyway, there's probably be a lot of things you don't understand about this chapter so you could always REVIEW and ask me. The AU-ness begins from now on! Itachi + Kisame will probably appear in the chapter after next, but I'm not promising anything. Also, I just wanted to say, for the record, that there will be no pairings in this fic. If you have ever read any of my other fics you'd know that I really can't write romance. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, so sorry if I have: Shi no Me means 'Death's Eyes' or 'Eyes of Death.' **


	10. Pasts and Consequences

Chapter Nine-

**There were two feelings that ate Sasumi alive: loneliness and guilt. **Long ago she had given up trying to make sense of how something non-physical could hurt so much. All she knew was that it was hell. Physical pain was easy; it was something you could get used to. Sasumi was used to physical pain. But the horrible feeling in her chest and stomach now was something she doubted she could ever get used to. It was a cold feeling, like she was being frozen slowly, starting from the inside. And all because of a choice she had made. It scared her how one word, one choice, one movement, could save or destroy a life. She doubted the guilt would ever go away. Before they brought Naruto and Sasuke in she had been fabricating a story to tell the Nara genius. How selfish. Naruto was fine, they said. His strength had been completely used up and he had a large bruise on one cheek, but besides that he was fine. He would wake up soon. Her other teammate was in a coma. If he had been brought in a few minutes later he would have died. The mere thought made her feel so weak. Weak and helpless. But there was not much she could do for Sasuke now; she would have to wait for nightfall.

She had, as usual, other things to worry about. Like what she was going to tell Nara Shikamaru when he woke up. He wouldn't believe it was all a fluke. Even Naruto wouldn't believe that. He wouldn't believe that the Sound nin were just weak, because he had fought them himself. Maybe, just maybe, she could blame it all on the curse seal, however weak an excuse. But she had nothing else. All she had to do was wait.

Hanada-san hadn't asked her what had happened and Sasumi was glad for that. She just needed to be left alone for a while so she could figure out a few things. She stared out the window, looking at the Hokage's faces that had been carved into stone. Physically she wasn't hurt, so she hadn't needed any medical attention. Well, at least none that they could give. Her arm throbbed painfully from using it so much, while her other in the cast twitched from the aftereffects of the Healing Jutsu she had used on it. She was sitting in the hallway outside the Nara's room. She didn't sit in the room because she didn't want to see his sleeping face.

It was her fault they were all in the hospital now, that Sasuke had barely been stabilized a few minutes ago and now was in a coma, that Nara had been stabbed through the shoulder, that Naruto lay unconscious in the room next door. She should have been able to protect them, not protect herself and her cover. She drew her knees closer to her chest and leaned her head against the wall.

"_If you saw me now, I wonder what you would say. The old you would have yelled at me. You would have said 'Stop mopping around!' or 'Get over yourself!' But would you say that now? I haven't seen you for almost eight years. It seems like forever. I'm sure you've changed. You probably hate me. I won't say I don't deserve your hatred, but…I wish you were here. You would tell me what to do and then everything would be all right. I don't know what to do. Every time they get a little closer to dying, every time I hold back and so far I've been lucky. But I don't know how long my luck will last. Sasuke…he's in a coma and it's all my fault, Naruto and Nara are hurt as well because of my cowardice. I can't forgive myself for being too afraid to do anything. That's right, I was afraid, afraid that if I did anything they would find out and then they would hate me. Just like you and the rest of them do. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I wasn't cursed with these eyes. I can't even imagine it. And that's why it hurts, it hurts because I can't even imagine being normal. I don't regret coming to Konoha, but I just…I just wish you where here too. But you're not here and if we're both lucky…we'll never meet again, right, Y-"_

"Sasumi?"

She looked up to see Naruto leaning tiredly against the doorframe.

"What happened? Where's Gaara? And Sasuke?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. She looked away from him, staring out the window again.

"Sasumi? Sasuke…is he…?"

"No," she said finally finding her voice. "He's in a coma."

He moved closer to her, "A coma? Then he's not…"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him rub his eyes furiously.

"What's a coma?" he asked after he gained control of his tear ducts, sitting down beside her on the cold tile floor.

"He's asleep," she explained to him, "And I don't know when he'll wake up."

"You mean he could never wake up?"

It was too painful for Sasumi to say it, so she just nodded.

"Oh."

He was silent for a few seconds, but then began to speak again.

"Sasumi, are you okay?"

She turned toward him, immediately regretting it, as she noticed the dead look in his usually lively blue eyes.

_"No, I'm not. And I don't think I ever will be."_

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"No," She turned to look out the window again. "I'm not."

There was an awkward pause. She saw Naruto open his mouth to say something, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) at this particular moment Nara chose to wake up.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto cried, "What happened to your shoulder? Are you okay? I don't thin-" He stopped with a strange look on his face. Nara groaned and attempted to rub his eyes with both hands, but then stopped, wincing, because of the injury on his shoulder.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked sleepily.

"Your hair…it looks really funny," Naruto giggled.

Shikamaru's hand went automatically to his hair, which was no longer tied up in a ponytail. He glared at Naruto and then turned to Sasumi.

"What happened?" he asked her, "All I remember is-"

He stopped and his eyes widened.

"Sasumi?" he said quietly, "How-"

Naruto cut him off, "Sasuke's in a coma," he said quietly. "The rest of us are okay, though!" he continued brightly.

Nara was still staring at her as if he hadn't heard him.

"Uzumaki-san," she said quietly, "Uchiha-san is in Room 135. Why don't you go visit him? I need to speak to Nara-san for a while."

"Err…okay," he looked confused, but had enough sense not to ask. He walked down the hallway and disappeared around the corner. Once she was sure that he was actually gone she turned back to Nara. His expression of shock had morphed into a serious and determined look. She suddenly realized that there was no way she could trick him. Every single excuse she could tell him, he would dissect and find something wrong with. She could only tell him one thing. The thing that was more far-fetched than any excuse she could think up. The truth.

"Who are you?" he asked, surprising her. Most people would ask 'How did you do that?'

"Do you really want to know?" she asked him, already knowing the answer.

"Why else would I ask?"

"It's a long story."

"I'm not going anywhere."

She paused. His determination surprised her. He had always been very laidback and had never seemed to care about anything.

"Alright." She said and began to talk.

**Naruto walked down the seemingly endless hallway. **Sasumi and Shikamaru had looked so serious before he left. He wondered what they were talking about now. Usually he would've hid behind the corner and eavesdropped, but Sasumi's face had been so serious he hadn't dared. He walked passed Room 179 deep in thought. Wait, Room 179? Shit! He had been walking around for twenty minutes and he still couldn't find it! It was just a room, it shouldn't be that hard to find! Right? Apparently not. He walked up to one of the nurses who was walking by.

"Ano…which way is Room 135?"

She blinked and looked down at him, "Are you lost?"

_"No, I like asking people where random rooms are. Of course I'm lost!"_

But Naruto wasn't really in the mood to fight, so he just told her that he was.

"Hmm…Let's see. Room 135. That's the Intensive Care sector, right?"

_"What the hell is Intensive Care?"_

"Well, first you go left down the hallway over there, then turn right at the fifth hallway to the left then go down a flight of stairs and then-"

"Uh…could you just show me where it is?" he said bluntly.

"Okay, follow me."

She led him through the maze of a hospital and Naruto made a mental note to ask someone to show him the way out. Seriously, someone could get lost in here and starve to death trying to find their way out. Finally they reached the room and the nurse left him. He opened the door and winced. Sasuke looked…(there was no other word for it)…like shit. Practically his entire body was covered in bandages. He was paler than usual (if even possible) and his body looked more limp than normal persons' did when sleeping.

When Gaara had hit him for the final time he hadn't thought it had done that much damage. Okay, that was a lie, for a second he though he was dead. Well, more than a second. He had caught him before he hit the ground and found that his heart was still beating. The rest was all a blur of sand and fire. He did remember, however, that he beat Gaara. And that was it. He didn't know if Gaara got away or if he had been captured. Surprisingly, he hoped he had escaped. Even though he had put Sasuke in a coma, he didn't deserve to die. He pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down in it, staring at Sasuke's limp form. He looked strange sleeping. He didn't look like Sasuke at all. He looked smaller and more child-like. Naruto smirked; when Sasuke woke up he was definitely going to make fun of him for this. If he woke up. At this thought the smirk disappeared from Naruto's face.

"Asshole," Naruto muttered, "When you wake up I'm going to kick your ass."

Usually Sasuke would have looked at him disdainfully or at least scowled, but now he didn't do anything. He just lay there. Naruto had almost expected him to wake up and glare at him. Naruto turned the chair around and rested his head on the back of it looking wearily down at his sleeping

friend. He sighed blowing his blond hair out of his eyes.

"Bastard," he muttered.

And ever so slowly his eyes fluttered shut as he fell asleep.

**Shikamaru's face, **which usually portrayed the expression of utter boredom, was now completely blank. Yamaki Sasumi had told him her gruesome past without a single pause or tremor. Her seemingly uncaring mood even made Shikamaru forget about the pain in his shoulder. Her story was preposterous, utterly insane, and ridiculous. But despite being totally absurd, it made sense.

Shikamaru had always been a perceptive person. It came with being a genius. He always noticed things that other people would never even think of looking at, much less think about. Even at an early age he noticed strange things about the people around him. He had been in Sasuke's class when the Uchiha Massacre had happened. Sasuke had never been a very social person to begin with, but after the death of his family he had changed completely. He had stopped talking almost completely and had showed less emotion. The only thing that didn't change about him was his resolve to be the best in everything. Shikamaru never understood that about people. As long as you're alive and relatively comfortable, did it really matter what grades you got on some dumb test you took when you were ten?

Naruto wasn't in Shikamaru's class when he first entered the academy, but the next year he was to his parent's distress. His mother had even gone as far as to tell him to stay away from the blond-haired boy. Everyone seemed to hate him and after observing them and Naruto he had no idea why. Sure, he was loud, annoying, and basically a retard, but it wasn't like the rest of the class was much smarter. Shikamaru was glad that he had left the academy; now instead of an entire class, he only had to deal with one troublesome person named Ino. He had also noticed that most of the adults in Konoha seemed to hate Naruto as well. As he had said before Naruto was troublesome and had a knack for causing trouble, but then again so did Inuzuka Kiba and no one hated _him_. Shikamaru had given up long ago trying to figure out whythis was; it was way too much work. He had the same problem with Choji.

Most people had a problem with Choji's habit of eating everything eatable and even some things that weren't. Shikamaru didn't understand their reasoning, either. So, Choji liked to eat, well he liked to stare at the clouds, and no one ever gave him a hard time about that. Well, except his mother, but she didn't count.

Sasumi had always struck him as someone from one of those old clans like the Hyuuga, who was barred from showing any emotion for fear of shaming the clan. After finding out her last name, he thought that she wasn't, as he had never heard of a Yamaki clan, and the fact that she could have come from another village never crossed his mind. Not that she gave any indication that she did, or give any indication of anything at all. Even as she told him the most horrific things that could be done to a person, much less her, she was emotionless as a stone. Shikamaru was a genius, but he doubted he would ever understand people.

"So," he said slowly, trying to make sense of all the information that had just been told to him, "You can read people's minds…?"

He mentally kicked himself; of all the things he could ask or say to her he chose the one thing that had caused all her problems up until now.

"Memories," she replied, "I can read people's memories."

Shikamaru suddenly had the childish urge to ask her something in order to know if she really could look inside people's minds.

"I can prove it, if you like," she said evenly.

He suddenly felt very vulnerable and unsure, just realizing how dangerous a Kekkai Genkai like hers was. A simple look could tell her all she needed to know about him: his strengths, his weaknesses, everything. Had she read his mind? Probably. With a past like that she would probably be very paranoid. Shikamaru knew he would be. He swallowed, forcing himself to think rationally. It was obvious she had no intention of betraying Konoha, which meant he had no reason to fear her. As far as he could tell, she wasn't unhappy here, though even if she was he wouldn't be able to tell. Then again, if she was unhappy here, she would have probably left. If Shikamaru knew that missing nin that were criminals were the highest priority of the ANBU, not average Genin, then she probably knew that too.

How much did she know? There was no limit to what she could know. It was actually quite frightening.

"Ask me something only you would know," she said.

"Uh…what did I eat for breakfast?"

"Sushi; tuna and green tea."

Wait, he had green tea? Oh, yeah, on the way to the Chuunin exam he had…

He swallowed and sunk to the floor. She looked down at him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Believe me?"

"…Yeah…"

"Then I have a question for you."

He looked up, surprised.

"What are you going to do, Nara-san?"

Most people would not understand the question, but Shikamaru understood it very well. She was asking him what he was going to do with the information she had given him. He hadn't even thought about what he was going to do if she could prove her story was the truth. From what she had told him he deduced that if the rest of the village found out they would be obligated to tell the Rain. The Leaf wasn't exactly on good terms with the Rain, but they were still allies and had a peace treaty. Which would _definitely_ be broken if they found out that the girl before him lived in Konoha. What was he going to do? He doubted Sasumi planned on causing harm to Konoha, which, as a shinobi, he was taught to think of first. It was his duty to report to the Hokage anything that…could be potentially dangerous to the village. Hmmm.

"What are you doing here, Sasumi?"

She answered him right away, without any hesitation, "Living."

"Well, I'm not going to interfere then."

He picked himself up off the floor and walked down the hallway.

"Nara-san," he turned in surprise at the sound of her voice. It wasn't that he hadn't expected her to say anything, but the sound of her voice was almost…well, desperate.

"Thanks," she said quietly, a strange, soft sort of look on her face that he never expected her to wear.

"No problem."

**Weeks went by and slowly Konoha recovered from the attack. **The death of the Sandaime Hokage was a bad blow and the council was still arguing over who should become the Godaime. Sasuke was still in a coma, which paralyzed Team 7. Sasumi and Naruto had been let out of the hospital less than a week after the attack and the three of them spent most of their missions helping rebuild the village.

When Kakashi first heard of Sasuke's comatose state he was surprised and felt slightly guilty. Had he underestimated that Gaara? He was sure with the combined skills of Shikamaru, Shino, Sasuke, and Naruto they would have been able to beat him. He heard from Asuma that the team he had sent out after Sasuke had been separated. Asuma then asked him why he had sent Sasumi, because of her broken arm. Kakashi was surprised at this too. He didn't know that Sasumi had gone with the group and was even more surprised to find that Shikamaru, Sasuke, and even Naruto suffered more injuries than her. Asuma said something about how weak the Sound were if two average Genin (or maybe Chuunin) could defeat them. Maybe the fact that the Sound nin were weak satisfied Asuma, but Kakashi had a strong feeling that they were both missing something. They're were other things that bothered Kakashi as well. Strange things.

When Kakashi had visited the hospital to check up on Sasuke, he asked about the injuries his student had sustained and his chances of recovery. When Sasuke had been admitted to the hospital he had several broken ribs, a huge cut in the middle, a bruised lung, and a bunch of other cuts lining his body. Kakashi wasn't a medical nin, but he knew that in a few weeks, even with certain drugs, there was no way Sasuke could have healed completely. But he had. There wasn't a single mark on him now and Kakashi was very suspicious. Medical nin were very rare; the only one he could think of at the moment (that was alive that is) was the Sannin Tsunade. However, she had not been in the village for almost a decade.

It was interesting that he thought of her now, because it seemed that she was the main choice for the next Hokage. In fact, Jiraiya had already left the village to find her. Kakashi had heard he had asked Naruto if he wanted to come with, but surprisingly Naruto turned the offer down in favor of waiting until Sasuke woke up. If Sasuke had still been injured Kakashi suspected Naruto could have been persuaded, but he no longer needed an artificial lung, only an IV. His body was merely recuperating from the shock it received and the chances that he would wake up had increased by almost 20. He had been moved from the Intensive Care ward into a regular room, which was where Kakashi was now with the rest of his team.

It was two o'clock in the morning and they were all in their pajamas. The nurse on night watch had called them half-an-hour ago to tell them that Sasuke showed signs of waking up. Indeed, his eyes were moving rapidly under his eyelids and his hands were twitching. The nurse warned them that even if he did open his eyes he might not be conscious for a while. When Naruto questioned this, Kakashi shushed him for fear of the nurse's sanity. Time seemed to have stopped when Sasuke's eye's slowly opened.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said loudly.

Kakashi gave him an annoyed look. What had he done in a previous live for him to deserve such a loud student?

_"I must have been some sort of criminal mastermind,"_ Kakashi thought.

Sasuke's eye were open, but they were unfocused.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said again.

"Uzumaki-san," his other conscious student started, "Maybe-"

"Sasuke, you bastard, wake up, dammit!"

Kakashi inwardly moaned. Sasuke's eyes opened a little wider. He made a unintelligible noise and pulled himself into a seated position, eyes still out of focus.

"Uchiha-san…" Came the sot voice from his left.

Sasuke slowly lifted up a hand and rubbed his eyes.

"Helloooo… Sasuke, are you awake or what?"

Kakashi had a sudden urge to bang his head against something.

"Wha…Naruto…" Sasuke groaned, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"He speaks!" said Naruto cheerfully, but Kakashi noticed him wiping his eyes vigorously.

Sasuke glared at him.

_"Typical Sasuke," _thought Kakashi, _"The first thing he does after two months is glare at Naruto." _

"Wait..." said Sasuke slowly, "Why am I in the hospital? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke's attention turned towards him. Kakashi sighed.

"You were in a coma," he said, "For two months."

Sasuke looked confused.

"Okay, do you remember your fight with Gaara?" Sasuke shook his head, "Do you remember who Gaara is?"

Sasuke glared at him, "Yes…" he trailed off, "Oh," he said, his eyes wide.

"Remember?" Sasuke nodded, still looking shocked, "Well, you've been out for two months. I think you'll have to go to some physical therapy since you haven't used your muscles in so long."

Sasuke still looked dazed, "Uh…"

"What?"

"Is there a reason you're all in your pajamas?"

"It's two o'clock in the morning," Kakashi said dryly, "Well, I have a mission tomorrow, so I'll see you all…whenever."

And he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The last thing he heard before starting off for his apartment was Naruto's annoyed yell.

"Huh? Where the hell did he go?!"

**Author's Notes: Well, that was quick. Then again, I posted the previous chapter when I was almost done with this chapter. Definitely Itachi and Kisame next chapter! And yes, that is a good thing! KUKUKU! Many thanks to: anniert, mitsuhime, psalmofsummer, EvilMoogleGirl, Back2Innocence, Kiyoshi Koezu, narunaru.ramen, Animealover, and AkaiTrixxterShiruba. I took the time to write your names down, feel proud of me! (If I spelled your screen names wrong please don't kill me.) Fact: My beta Sleeping Soundly is awesome. Thank you so much! **


	11. Dawn

Chapter Ten-

**Sasuke inwardly groaned. **His legs felt like lead. Physical therapy was hell. That stupid man did not seem to get that he couldn't just get up and start walking again. It had been a week since he had woken up and he just had been able to walk without a limp. When he did Naruto loved to point it out. Every. Single. Time. He came.

The first thing Sasuke was going to do once he got his leg and arm strength back was beat the shit out of the blond-haired idiot…okay, maybe not that extreme, but he was at least going to hit him.

After Sasuke got over the initial shock that he had been asleep for three months, he had been shocked to find that the Sandaime Hokage had been killed and was shocked that Naruto (as in the blond-haired idiot he was talking about earlier) had saved his life and beat Sabaku no Gaara. All that shock could not be good for him. Needless to say, Sasuke was not very happy.

Sasumi and Naruto visited everyday (Naruto never forgot to point out his limp), but Sasuke was still bored. A few other people visited him, which Sasuke thought was just plain weird and/or scary (Ino tried to glomp him and unfortunately he couldn't get away).

Sasuke felt like banging his head on something hard. That table corner was suddenly looking very appealing.

He groaned, out loud this time. He was going insane. That was the only explanation. Pulling himself out of the bed he had been supposedly confined to (though he hadn't really been listening) he made his way out of his house to visit Kakashi to force out of him a way to gain his strength back without physical therapy. He made his way over to Kakashi's apartment and was surprised to find him lying in bed unconscious with three other Jounin in the room talking quietly.

"What happened to him?" Sasuke asked straining to see if he was injured or not.

"Er…It's nothing-" started the man who had declared himself to be Kakashi's rival at the beginning of the Chuunin Exam, but he was cut off as a shinobi that Sasuke had never seen before came rushing in.

"I heard that that Itachi's back! Is it true…that he's after Naruto?"

That was all Sasuke needed to hear. Before they could stop him he rushed out, completely forgetting the pain in his legs.

_"Shit, Naruto-"_

One hour earlier

**Kakashi stood leaning against a shop waiting for Sasuke to arrive. **Usually he would have read his book, but he couldn't take any chances this time. He was quite sure that it was Uchiha Itachi who was sitting behind him. If it were, he would leave when Sasuke came. All Kakashi had to do was wait.

He had heard from Jiraiya that Itachi had joined an organization called "Akatsuki" that was after demons like the Kyuubi. But why were they here? Kakashi doubted they knew who the container of the Kyuubi was.

When Naruto was born, Itachi would have only been five and probably wouldn't know or remember anything about the incident. The holder of the Kyuubi was strictly a Leaf secret, so he couldn't have heard it from any other villages. Then was he here for Sasuke? To finish what he started almost seven years ago? Even if Sasuke was his goal, Kakashi doubted that he would be foolish enough to attack Sasuke on sight. He would never be able to get out of Konoha alive.

He saw Asuma and Kurenai walk up. He talked with them a little, not forgetting to insinuate that they were dating, to Kurenai's embarrassment. Both of them were very surprised to find that he was actually waiting for someone. All right, so maybe he was a little late once in a while, but that didn't mean they had to overreact when he was on time.

"Kakashi, how unusual for you to be here before me," Sasuke said as he walked up.

They were all pitted against him, see!

The two figures behind him were no longer there. He gave a small nod to Asuma and Kurenai and they both disappeared as well.

"Uh…What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," he said casually, "How's physical therapy going."

His dark-haired student scowled.

"That good, huh."

He had to get away. If it really was Itachi back there he doubted Asuma and Kurenai could hold take him themselves.

"Well, nice seeing you Sasuke, got to run!" And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving his confused student standing next to the sweet shop.

It wasn't hard to find them; ever since he was a child he had been good at sensing other ninja's chakra. Though if only he had been a little bit better Obito might have… He shook his head to clear away those thoughts. He had a job to do now.

When he came upon them his suspicions were confirmed. It was indeed Uchiha Itachi and another man that he recognized as Hoshigaki Kisame. Asuma was crouched on a bridge and Kurenai was standing on the water below. He saw Kisame move his hands in a telltale jutsu. He knew already that this was not going to be an easy fight. He should have called for reinforcements before he left.

Kakashi countered Kisame's water jutsu quickly and sent a Kage Bushin to help Kurenai who was corned by Itachi.

"What took you so long?" Asuma asked him. Kakashi noticed that his upper arm was bleeding profusely.

"You know me," Kakashi answered him, never taking his eyes of Kisame, "I'm always late."

"Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi's Kage Bushin turned toward Itachi.

"What a surprise. From the way you copied my jutsu and how you have the same eye as Itachi-san, you must be the copy-ninja Kakashi," Kisame said.

"Is there a reason, you; Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, traitor to Mist are here in Konoha?"

"Interesting, so you know who I am," Kisame said, a smirk on his shark-like features.

Itachi didn't say anything.

"I've seen a sword like your 'Samehada,' before."

"So you've met that kid Zabuza, huh."

"Aaa."

"Heh, heh," He lifted his sword and Kakashi braced himself, "_This time I'll take more than your shoulder._"

"Stop, Kisame," They all looked at Itachi, "If you fight this person, you'll end up sorry. We don't have much time. We didn't come here to start a war."

"But-"

"You're forgetting the reason we came here in the first place. We didn't come here to get injured."

"Mind telling us the reason you're here?" Kakashi asked, undoing his Kage Bushin jutsu.

Itachi didn't say anything for a while, as if thinking over what he was going to say.

"We've come to find the thing we've been searching for."

"The thing you've been searching for…?" Kakashi echoed, "And what is that?"

"Unfortunately, Kisame and I don't have any more time."

Kakashi saw the glint of metal in Itachi's hand and quickly summoned a wall of water to block the barrage of shuriken. However, they never came.

_"He saw the jutsu and stopped himself because he knew he couldn't get through it? His right hand didn't even look like it moved! How fast is he?"_

"Nothing less from you, Kakashi-san, you have very good…eyesight." He appeared behind Kakashi's Bushin and stuck a kunai threw his back.

Kakashi was under the water when he saw them. Waterproof explosive packets. Shit.

"Kurenai, get down!"

He threw himself and the red eyed Jounin out of the way. There was a gigantic explosion. Kakashi's back hurt like hell as he forced himself to stand up straight. This was not good.

"Don't underestimate him. He became the captain of his ANBU group at the age of thirteen."

"Is this his-" started Asuma who had jumped off the bridge onto the water below, but Kakashi cut him off.

"No, this isn't his full power."

"You aren't of the Uchiha bloodline," Itachi said evenly, closing his eyes, "Which means you can't use the Sharingan to its full extent. There is a reason why the Uchiha clan is the most feared clan. How about I show you the Sharingan's…the bloodline's true power!"

Itachi opened his eyes. Kakashi saw his Sharingan warp into a different shape. The dots in his eyes now almost looked like a shuriken.

_"Wait, he's not going to…" _Kakashi thought, _"This is bad!"_

"Both of you shut your eyes!" he yelled at Asuma and Kurenai.

Kakashi shut his normal eye, sweat dripping down chin.

"Good job both of you," he said quietly to them, "Whatever you do, don't open your eyes. The second you do it's over. The only one who can look at him is something who possesses the Sharingan."

"You do possess the Sharingan which is some resistance to this 'Mangekyou Sharingan.' However, my illusion jutsu "Tsukiyomi" cannot be beaten! Only a Sharingan user with the same blood as me could aspire to beat me."

"Sasuke…" Kakashi muttered.

Suddenly everything went black and white. He was tied to a post and was surrounded by about thirty Itachi who were holding swords. Kakashi struggled against his bonds desperately.

"This world Tsukiyomi contains all of matter, space and time. I control everything here," he raised a sword, "Now for seventy-two hours you will be continuously stabbed."

It was hell. There was no other way to describe it. Every second seemed like an hour. Kakashi wanted to die. His voice was hoarse from screaming and everything burned. He just wanted it all to stop. A part of his mind argued that he shouldn't be feeling any pain because it was just an illusion, but it was soon drowned out by his screams.

Pain. There was so much pain. Kakashi had never been tortured before, but he had visited Ibiki after Konoha had retrieved him. It had taken him almost a year to recover. Not physically, but mentally. When they finally got him out of there he was a wreck. Kakashi hadn't known him that well before, but he remembered that Ibiki had always been carefree and confident. After he had been tortured he had changed completely. He suddenly couldn't stand people who he had been very close to before. His tastes changed in everything from food to daily habits until be couldn't even be compared to the person he was before. The reason he became in charge of interrogating prisoners in Konoha was because he had been one of them once. He knew what tactics worked and what didn't. He was the perfect man for the job.

And then it all stopped. He fell on his knees, breathing harshly. He faintly heard Asuma and Kurenai's worried voices, but he couldn't resister the words.

"Kakashi, can you hear me? What happened? You just suddenly fell over!"

_"It felt like three days, but it really happened instantly, huh? Why didn't he just kill me?"_

"It's…not…over yet," he managed to cough out, but he knew he couldn't even stand.

"He's still alive?" he heard Kisame's voice, "Itachi-san, you should you your eye more carefully though…"

"What do…you want," Kakashi asked, forcing himself to remain afloat, "Sasuke?"

"No," said Itachi, "The Yondaime Hokage's legacy."

_"Damn, they do know about Naruto!!"_

"What do you want… with him?"

He thought back on what Jiraiya had told him, "Your target…is the Kyuubi, isn't it? You've been moving for a while, we've noticed. The name of your organization…'Akatsuki' right?"

"Akatsuki?" he heard Asuma say.

He saw Itachi's eyebrows furrow slightly.

"Kisame, take Kakashi-san out."

He heard saw Kisame run towards them but he had no strength to stop him.

_'Is this it-"_

Suddenly there was huge splash as something green kicked Kisame out of the way.

_"Gai!"_

"Who the hell is this!" he heard Kisame growl.

Suddenly everything went blurry and he felt himself relax and fall into darkness.

**Naruto slurped up some more ramen.**

_"Mmm…ramen. You are my only true friend."_

He was going out training today so he needed all the nourishment he could get. Yes, ramen was nourishment. Well, at least in Naruto's book.

"Where are you going today, Naruto?" asked the oji-san behind the counter.

"Training! Oh, yeah!"

The man laughed good-naturedly, "Well, don't _too _much otherwise you'll get a stomachache."

"Yosh!"

He quickly finished his bowl and rushed off towards the training area.

_"Heh, heh, I'm going to get so good Sasuke won't even know what hit him!" _

For about an hour he practiced throwing kicks and punches against a few of the posts. He rested for a while and then removed his jacket from the heat. Then he practiced his throwing skills against some trees. He paused as he was about to throw another kunai and look up at the kunai and shuriken filled tree. This probably wasn't good for them. Oh, well. Better trees than people.

**Sasuke ran into Ichiriku's, **breathing heavily.

_"I have to get to Naruto before **he **does. Because if he finds Naruto, Naruto's dead!"_

"Oji-san, have you seen Naruto lately? Do you know where he is now?"

"Naruto…hmm…let's see!"

_"C'mon, dammit!!"_

"He said something about training this morning. He probably is- hey, wait!"

Sasuke didn't need to hear anymore.

_"Okay, he's training. Shit, there are tons of places to train in Konoha. I'm going to have to check them all."_

He turned a corner and ran straight into a rather large lady who was surrounded by small children. He hissed in pain as he fell on his decrepit legs.

"Watch where you're going, young man!" she chided him.

"Sorry," He was picking himself up when he heard her voice.

"Uchiha-san?"

He looked up to see Sasumi who was carrying a large basket of groceries, staring down at him.

"Sasumi?"

"Uchiha-san, what's wr-" she started, but never finished.

"Sasumi, have you seen Naruto? The guy Ichiriku's said he was training, but he could be anywhere!" He was panicking, dammit; please let him get there in time.

"I haven't seen him since yesterday. Uchiha-san what's going-"

"There's no time to explain! I have to go!"

"Wait!"

He turned around, "There's no time, I'll tell you later."

_"If there is a later."_

And then he rushed off leaving her standing there.

And he ran, fueled by hate and panic. He was going to _kill _that bastard! First, his entire family, and now Naruto! Images of his dead parents flashed before his eyes, causing him to grit his teeth in anger. He was going to kill him. He would avenge his family and himself and he didn't care what he had to do to do it.

He ran to the place were Team 7 had trained for the first time. No Naruto. He was so angry that if it were any other circumstance he might have destroyed something, but he didn't have to time nor the energy to waste. He checked a few other places and was starting to feel the desperation, along with the throbbing pain in his legs, getting to him when he heard the scream.

**Naruto was just about to pack up for the day when he heard the footsteps. **Normally, he would have just turned around and (nosily) greeted the other person/people. But he suddenly had this horrible feeling. A sixth sense of some sort was telling him not to turn around, but instead to run. He couldn't though. He was frozen. His body, which had previously been hot from all the exercise he had been doing, was suddenly cold. The footsteps got closer and every nerve in his body was telling him to get away. To run and never come back.

"Hello," said a smooth voice, "Naruto-kun."

He turned around. Ready to face anything.

Two men stood before him. The shorter one had long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail and the taller one appeared to have blue skin and what looked like gills on his face. They both wore black cloaks with white clouds on them outlined in red. But Naruto wasn't focusing on any of that. He stared into the shorter ones familiar looking eyes and face.

_"Sasuke?"_ was his first thought,_ "No…that's not Sasuke…who is he? He has the same Sharingan as Sasuke." _

He realized that he was shaking and could do nothing to stop himself.

"Is this kid really the holder of the Kyuubi?" said the taller one.

_"What?! They know about the Kyuubi?"_

He took a step backwards. This was dangerous, they were dangerous. He had no proof, all he knew was that he had to get out off here.

"Naruto-kun," said the one with the Sharingan, "We need you to come with us."

He spoke without even thinking about it, "Who are you?"

"We are the Akatsuki," the shorter one said, "We've been ordered to come and collect you."

He instantly hated this man. As a child, half the village ignored him, mistreated him, and talked to him (when they had to) like he was a thing. An object, an animal, a demon. Like he didn't have any emotions or dreams or any human aspects at all. They talked the same way as this man. Like he was just an item. His hands clenched into fists and he narrowed his eyes, his muscles tense and ready.

"Ch, this is going to be annoying, Itachi-san," said the one with the gills, "He's going to run around. Maybe we should cut off a leg or something…"

Fear gripped Naruto and the sixth sense was back, telling him to run.

"So…" he pulled on the handle of something that Naruto couldn't see. His blood ran cold. He couldn't get away. It happened so fast that all he had time to do was take a step back, tripping over his feet in panic.

Pain erupted in his midriff. He screamed and fell to the ground, blood pouring out of his whole upper body. He gasped for breath, tears of pain making their way down his whiskered cheeks. He heard the taller one say something and then felt something heavy on his chest. He screamed again as the pain doubled, struggling vainly to get away. 'Itachi' said something and then the weight went away. He tried to stifle a sob, but to no avail. Then he heard another voice, one he recognized, but he couldn't place it. It was hard enough just breathing. He couldn't think or move or do anything at all. As his breathing slowed he was able to make out the some of the conversation that was taking place.

"…second…day…Sharingan…is it?" he thought it was the one with the blue skin.

"My…brother."

"…heard…clan…wiped out…you…"

"…going…_kill you!"_ It was that voice again, he recognized it, but it was taking all he had to keep breathing and he couldn't think.

There was yelling now and he felt chakra in the air. There was a series of high-pitched noises and then a cry of pain and a thud. He focused his eyes and struggled to move his head in the direction of the noises. Every time he moved his body it felt like he was being stabbed over and over again with kunai. He didn't know how long it took until he raised his head, but it seemed like forever.

Then he heard screaming. It was unlike anything he had heard in his life before. It was a scream of pure pain. He whimpered in pain and then gasped as he finally reached his goal. The man Itachi had his black-haired teammate pinned to the tree, his hand wrapped around his throat. He heard the blue skinned man say something, but he wasn't listening.

He starred at Sasuke. Not because there was blood dripping from his mouth and chest or because his wrist was twisted the wrong way. It was because he was screaming. Sasuke didn't scream. Sasuke glared and scowled and smirked and sometimes even truly smiled, but never screamed. It was so wrong. Why was he screaming? Why…why was this happening?

He didn't know what the man Itachi was doing to him, but he felt furious. His blood was boiling and he was so angry is he had the strength he would have killed the man.

And then suddenly it all made sense. What Sasuke had said when they were introducing themselves that first day as Team 7. What he had said after he had jumped in front of Haku's needles to save him. This 'Itachi' was the man he wanted to kill. His brother.

Sasuke was still screaming.

"Let…him…go!" he snarled, once Sasuke's screaming had died down, replaced by a horrible, dead, _weak,_ look on his face, "Leave him…alone…God…damn…you!"

Sasuke's elder brother dropped his teammate unceremoniously to the ground. Sasuke didn't make a sound. He fell limply against the tree, all trace of life completely gone.

Naruto growled in anger, the additive feeling of the Kyuubi's power taking over his body. The deep scratches in his torso began to heal. But even before they could heal completely, the tall man with the gills moved his sword over him. At first he though he was going to hit him again, but the impact never came. Instead, all that beautiful, addicting, _exciting,_ power was gone. He was weak again and he found he couldn't move. His body slid to the ground for a second time aided by a sharp kick in the ribs, causing him to cry out.

He couldn't do anything. He couldn't move, couldn't help, couldn't _save_ him. Naruto lay there weakly. Maybe he really was a monster. Maybe all the things the villagers said were true. That he was worthless, that he didn't deserve to live. Maybe even after all these years of denying it…maybe, they were right. Maybe…

A hand grabbed fisted his collar and pulled him off the ground. His head lolled weakly to the side and he saw Sasuke, his eyes wide in anger and… _fear_? He was saying something now, but Naruto couldn't make out the words. Sasuke struggled to stand, but he couldn't. Naruto starred blankly down at him.

"Sa-Sasuke…" he managed to cough out. He took another breath, "I-"

But he stopped. He heard a noise, muffled slightly by the ground, coming closer. It was strange, for some reason he wasn't able to hear anything else before, but now he could suddenly hear this soft sound. If he had been more aware he probably would have realized that the two Akatsuki members had gone rigid. His eyelids flickered and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he tried to figure out what it was. It had a steady beat, and became louder as time passed. Footsteps? There was someone else here? No…they had to get away, otherwise they'd end up like Sasuke.

_"Get away! Don't! You can't be here! They'll-!" _his incoherent thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, demanding voice.

"Let him go."

**Author's Notes: Yes, the chapter really ends here. No, sending me death threats for stopping this chapter at a cliffhanger will not help me get the next chapter out sooner. **

**I wasn't planning to have this chapter end on a cliffhanger, but it just ended up that way. After rereading this chapter I realized some parts were sort of…slashy. I did not do that on purpose, I swear. There isn't and won't be any slash in this fic. It's really not my fault I read so much slash. Really. **

**Anyway, another thing I am sorry for is the three pages of practically word-for-word translation of the manga. Notice I use the word 'practically.' And if that wasn't enough, my translation was done by me so it sucks, but hey, at I tried. The lack of Sasumi's P.O.V. in this chapter is deliberate. I know Naruto's kind of emo in the last few paragraphs, but if you were in his position, I think you'd be emo too.**

**The Kanji that is used in the manga for 'Akatsuki' means 'dawn' in Japanese, thus the title of this chapter. This chapter is really the beginning (the dawn, oooh, double meaning!) of the plot that's unconnected to the manga. **

**There's not really much of a point asking you who you think the 'mystery person' is, because you all know. And if you don't, you're over thinking it. It's rather obvious. **

**I really would like to hear what you think about my fic, so please review! If you don't I'll have to take reaaaallly long on the next chapter. And I'm not going to tell you if I'm serious or not. Just review and be safe, ne? **


	12. Shattered Persona

Chapter Eleven-

**Sasuke's eye widened as he processed the words that had been spoken and then recognized the voice. **It was Sasumi. He turned his head painfully towards her and inhaled sharply in shock causing his broken ribs to throb. He instinctively brought his unbroken wrist to his chest and forced himself to breathe slowly.

Sasumi's eyes were black. And not just the irises, both eyeballs were entirely black. They seemed to draw Sasuke in, and he found he couldn't look away. It was then that Sasuke realized he was scared. If he had the energy, he probably would have been shaking, but instead he could only lean against the tree and stare with his unfocused eyes. There was something about those eyes that made him more scared than he had ever been in his life. They terrified him.

He didn't know much about Sasumi. In fact, he really didn't know much about Naruto or Kakashi either. But he knew the least about her. He knew she had mediocre grades in the academy and had not paid much attention to her until they were together on Team Seven. He started to notice strange things about her then, like how she never brought any food on missions, until after she had almost starved to death. Or that she never even quirked an eyebrow in the most dire situations. He had tried to dismiss her as strange and slightly stupid, but he couldn't help but feel that he was missing something. With her even more than Naruto. It was absurd that he be afraid of her. She, unlike Naruto when fighting that Gaara, hadn't shown any real power. But that wasn't exactly true, was it? During the second part of the Chuunin Exam when Orochimaru had attacked them she had shown speed that was rivaled only by Maito Gai's. He supposed he could dismiss that as a fluke as well as the time where she broke Ino's ribs (well, she was under a curse.) He certainly had no reason to be afraid of her now. In fact he should be more afraid of his brother and what was going to happen to Naruto.

But those eyes…

From the first time he met Sasumi he noticed that her eyes were not normal. They were green. He had never met someone with green eyes before. Not only were they green, but they looked like how she acted and spoke: emotionless. After he had been on Team Seven with her for a while he also noticed something else. Sometimes her eyes looked so dead. They had that same look now. And for some reason it scared him.

"Sa-Sa…sumi?" a voice to his right gasped out, "Don't…shouldn't…no…here…"

Sasuke finally tore his eyes away from Sasumi's and saw his brother and the other man frozen, staring at Sasumi. Naruto hung limply in the other man's hand, blood slowly dripping down his torso and out of his mouth. His blue eyes were slightly glazed over and it looked like every breath took all his energy.

"Who the hell are you?" the other man asked, his hand straying to a strange looking weapon that was soaked with what Sasuke realized was Naruto's blood. He wanted to say something. To tell her to run, because she couldn't save them and because Itachi would get her too.

_"He's already gotten Naruto," _he thought dimly, _"Get away… before he takes you too."_

He wanted to tell her this, but he couldn't. The aftereffects of Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan still weighed upon his mind and Sasuke was surprised that he was even aware of all that was happening around him. He felt weak. The same way he felt as he watched Itachi kill his parents, when he fought in the Wave Country, and when he fought Gaara. Weak. And suddenly he felt like he would never be able to avenge his clan, his parents, and himself. Again he could only watch. And there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing at all.

"Now," said Sasumi, a determined and furious look on her face that seemed even stronger than the expression she had worn when Ino called her a freak in the Chuunin Exam.

"Those eyes…" said his brother softly, almost inaudibly, "What are they?"

Sasumi didn't answer him. Her eyes were trained on Naruto and her left hand slipped into her shuriken pouch.

"Ho…so you're going to fight us now?" said the blue skinned man, clearly amused.

"Kisame," his brother said warningly. His eyes were narrowed and he looked to Sasumi warily, "Who are you?"

Sasumi didn't answer him, instead she moved her legs moved further apart and her entire body tensed as if ready for a fight. Sasuke wanted to close his eyes and keep them open at the same time. He didn't want to see Itachi kill Sasumi, but he couldn't and didn't want to look away. He wanted to yell out "Run!" but his body was too weak. It always came down to strength, didn't it?

"You're so weak." Itachi whispered, "Still not enough hate…" 

His head hit the back of the tree trunk and suddenly he was breathing heavily and the world spun. He saw flashes of his parents and the blood. All the blood

After what seemed like forever it stopped and he focused his attention on the scene before him again. In reality, it couldn't have been more than a few seconds because none of the three figures had moved.

"Let him go," sasumi repeated, her voice betraying nothing, "And then leave."

The man called 'Kisame' let out a derisive snort. Itachi didn't say anything.

"Ch. You shouldn't order us around, brat. It'll get you in trouble." He did something that Sasuke couldn't see, but he could guess when Naruto let out a cry of pain. Sasumi's face contorted in anger… no, hate. Her shoulders tensed and she narrowed her eyes.

"You have five seconds to let him go and leave," She said, anger creeping into her voice, "Or I'll _make _you."

The blue skinned man smirked, "Really." He said amusedly and then more seriously, "I'd like to see you try."

"Kisame."

Kisame ignored him, "It's been five seconds," he said, his voice strangely empty, "Now what are you going to do?"

"Kisame!"

Sasumi's reaction was instantaneous or rather Sasuke assumed it was her because he only saw and blur of red and black. She rushed towards Kisame, but Itachi stood in front of him blocking her kunai with a kunai of his own. Suddenly her left leg was a blur and Itachi's eyes widened as he was forced to dodge the blow. Sasumi threw the kunai at Kisame, who blocked it. She ducked Itachi's kick and suddenly there was an explosion and Sasumi jumped backwards in order to avoid it. Suddenly Itachi was right in front of her, and Sasuke shut his eyes on reflex. There was a crunching noise and he opened them to see a kunai through Sasumi's chest. He felt sick as he watched the blood rush down her stomach. The blood-

Sasumi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Kage Bushin!" said Kisame, obviously shocked, "What the-" But he never got to finish his sentence because suddenly a torrent of kunai rained down upon him. He dodged some, but a few were lodged in his arms. He hissed in pain and angrily ripped them out.

"That bitc-"

"Kisame, quiet."

There was silence for a few moments, only broken by the sound of Naruto's painful breaths. Suddenly, three shuriken came out of nowhere and Kisame and Itachi both jumped backwards to avoid them. Itachi leapt towards the place where they had come from, and then suddenly Sasumi appeared behind Kisame. She kicked him harshly in the back and he yelled out and toppled over. Her arm was a blur and before he was able to dodge away Naruto was no longer in his grip. He jumped back cursing and Sasumi moved in front of Sasuke and placed Naruto on the ground beside him. Naruto's eyes were wide in confusion, but it seemed that he could only stare at the redhead. Sasumi turned to face his brother and Kisame.

"Leave," she repeated, "Or shall I make you do that as well?"

"Our objective is Naruto-kun," his brother stated emotionlessly, "We cannot leave without him."

Sasumi didn't say anything and suddenly her entire body relaxed. For a second Sasuke thought that Itachi had used his Mangekyou Sharingan on her, but her next movement disproved this theory. With one hand she pull off the bandages on the other arm. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw what was beneath them. That wasn't her arm. There was no way that could be an arm. It was covered in thin and thick indentations and parts of it were black. Some of it looked like it had been eaten away and some of her skin looked like it had been melted. Sasuke stared, trying to figure out what it was.

"What the…" he heard Kisame say.

She deftly tied the bandages that she pulled off around her left arm and waist, making it so she couldn't move her left arm at all. If Sasuke wasn't so busy wondering what thing sticking out of her sleeve was, he probably would have wondered why she had done that.

"Interesting," Itachi said and Sasumi lifted a kunai and then her entire body tensed.

**When Sasuke had run away, **Sasumi had only gotten a brief glimpse of his memories. However, since the memory she wanted was recent, it only took her a few minutes to sort through them a figure out what was what. Once she realized what was happening she rushed after Sasuke. What she found was a bloody, half dead Naruto and a stunned Sasuke with various broken bones.

Now she stood before Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame and planned what she was going to do. There would be no help coming any time soon, so she would have to drive them off herself. At this point she didn't care that she was breaking her cover, only that her teammates, no, _friends_ were in danger. Hoshigaki was already injured from her kick and kunai, and he did have many weaknesses as well. Uchiha Itachi, on the other hand, was a totally different story. Uchiha was stronger than her. He was larger, more experienced and had Hoshigaki to back him up. But besides these three shortcomings, Sasumi had the advantage.

First, she knew everything she ever needed to know about him; his skills, special jutsu, etc. Second, while she knew everything about him, he knew basically nothing about her except a few of her moves. He had had his Sharingan activated at the time, so Sasumi made a mental note not to use any of them against him. And third, she had a Kekkai Genkai that rivaled his in deadliness. However, she hoped she wouldn't need to use it.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Naruto breathing heavily. If she healed him she wasn't sure she would have enough chakra to fight effectively against her opponents. But, if she didn't heal him soon, he would bleed to death. Sasuke wasn't as hurt as Naruto was, but it was obvious that he was in pain too. She gritted her teeth. She would have to make this quick. She wished they would just leave, but after seeing why they wanted Naruto, she knew they wouldn't without a fight.

"Unfortunately, I can't allow you to take him." She said evenly, "Akatsuki."

They both visibly tensed, "Itachi-san," said Hoshigaki, "Shall I-"

"No."

His eyes began to spin and Sasumi smirked inwardly. She heard Sasuke gasp and Naruto whimper. A few seconds went past and Uchiha's eyes widened.

"What-"

"Are you done yet?" she asked, and noted that he was sweating slightly. Using the Mangekyou Sharingan three times in a day was apparently very straining.

"Kisame," Uchiha said.

The taller man rushed at her and she easily dodged his blows. She was tempted to grab his sword and throw it away, but she didn't get the chance. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Uchiha. She whirled around and was faced with a black fireball. She dodged it and delivered a kick right into Uchiha's chest. She heard a crack, and he was thrown backwards. He struggled to his feet, blood trickling down his chin. She created a Kage Bushin who grabbed Hoshigaki's sword before disappearing from its defense system. Hoshigaki lunged for it and she was about to make another Kage Bushin when three shuriken entered her back. She growled in pain and dodged another one that was thrown by Uchiha. Hoshigaki made a familiar hand symbol and gigantic wave of water spewed from his mouth covering the training grounds with water. She knew what he was trying to do and grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's collars, pulling them out of the way of the tirade of water. Once the waves had subsided she turned back towards the two Akatsuki members.

The fight was getting out of hand. Now that her anger had subsided she realized that if she didn't get out of this soon, they'd all end up six feet under. Uchiha would soon see through her moves and however well she knew his and Hoshigaki's moves, they would eventually try something new and she would be finished.

"It's useless," she said softly, "The ANBU will be here soon. However, if you don't leave now, _I'll kill you both before they get here_." It was a lie. The ANBU were not coming and she didn't plan on and couldn't kill them. She was running out of energy and seen wouldn't be able to fight anymore. However, they didn't know that. There was a long pause and she could practically see Uchiha Itachi's thoughts.

"We'll finish this later," he said emotionlessly. He looked at Naruto, "And then the jinchuuriki will come with us."

She narrowed her eyes and both of them jumped upwards and disappeared. But Sasumi heard his last words before he left and by the look on his face Sasuke had too.

_"We'll meet again, little brother." _

There was silence. An eerie wind blew through the trees. Sasumi knelt down on the wet ground and examined Naruto's torso. It was covered in deep scratches and by his complexion he had already lost a lot of blood. She untied the bandage securing her left arm to her waist and gritted her teeth as moved both arms over his body and began to heal him. As far as she could tell he was aware of what was going on as was Sasuke. However, Sasuke soon passed out from the onslaught of his brother's genjutsu. Naruto went unconscious moments later. She healed her and Sasuke's wounds as well, and then covered her left arm with the slightly bloodstained bandage again. Her clothes were basically clean, though her long black shorts were covered in mud and her quarter sleeved green shirt had a sprinkle of blood on the back and front.

She sighed audibly. It was over. Her three and a half years at Konoha were soon to come to an end. She couldn't expect Naruto and Sasuke to keep her secret as well. She would take them to the hospital and then leave. She didn't know where she would go. The Sand was out of the question as was the Rain and the Sound. Not like she wanted to go there anyway.

She slung Naruto, who was the lighter of the pair, over her shoulder and pulled Sasuke onto her back. It would have been easier to create a Kage Bushin, but Sasumi wanted to do it herself. She wanted the long walk back to Konoha to be tiresome so she could fall asleep as soon as she got to the hospital and not have to think anymore. It took about an hour to get there and she was thankful that there weren't many people in the streets to stare at her. When she got to the hospital she asked for Hanada Michiko and then waited along with a bunch of other patients who stared at her in curiosity, at Sasuke in sympathy, and at Naruto is disgust and triumph. She was too tired to get angry.

Finally the middle-aged woman walked up. She opened her mouth to ask what had happened but thankfully stopped in mid-sentence and helped her carry both of them into a room. Sasumi sat outside and waited until Hanada-san called her.

"Both of them have used up all their chakra." She told her, "Sasumi-san…what happened?"

Sasumi swallowed and looked her right in the eye, "I'm going to have to leave soon," she said softly.

Hanada-san put both hands on Sasumi's shoulders, "Sasumi-san, what happened?" Sasumi shuddered from the contact and Hanada-san drew back. She brought her hand to her head. She was feeling to many emotions now to say anything. Anger, sadness, fear, confusion were all whirling around in her head.

"_I don't want to go. I don't!"_

Suddenly, the waiting room disappeared in a whirl of black.

_A six year old girl sits crying on a bench, her purple hair covering her bloody face. Fire burns an eight year old's skin. Screaming. Pain. Blood._

_**"That's her…the Yamaki!"**_

_**"Monster…look at those eyes!"**_

_**"She and the demon girl; they should've been killed at birth!"**_

_**"Are you scared little girl? Don't worry, it's only going to get worse."**_

_**"Why don't you just tell us? Then we can all go home and forget all about this."**_

_Needles. Fire in her stomach. Screaming again. Begging, pleading._

_**"Leave us alone!"**_

" _**Go outside, you're such a bother."**_

_**"You've shamed our name, monster child!"**_

_**"You're no daughter of mine."**_

_Fear. Chains. Trapped. Sobbing. And then the darkness. _

_**"Your parents don't want you, do they? I understand, neither do mine."**_

_**"Sasumi sounds better!"**_

_**"I'm afraid of him. He hates me and Okasan."**_

_**"You're not a monster like me. Please don't hate me Sasumi."**_

The darkness is overwhelming. She doesn't know how long she been in there. She wants to get out. She wants to go back into the light. She pounds on the door begging and crying. She wouldn't get any food for three days now.

**"Why don't you want me?"**

_**"I like to play, it makes me forget.**_

_**"Why are your ears so weird?"**_

_**"I just knew. Is that bad?"**_

_**"Why does everyone hate you?"**_

_**"What am I?"**_

_**"I don't know! I DON'T KNOW!"**_

A new feeling. A burning sensation in her eyes. There'd no room left for fear. She's been afraid for too long. Anger. Kill. Screams again. But not her screams. Different screams. Their screams. Blood. Lots of blood. And Death. Running now. Running far away where they can't catch her and she'll be safe. And then the darkness.

"Sasumi-san! Sasumi-san!" Sasumi opened her eyes. For some reason she was on the floor. She closed her eyes again. She had had a flashback. Hanada-san came toward her and as a habit she flinched and backed up.

"It's okay Sasumi-san," she whispered, "It's okay. No one's going to hurt you."

And as she stretched out her arms everything went black.

And then the darkness.

**Michiko stared at the unconscious girl. **She didn't know what happened. Sasumi-san had been fine and was just about to tell her what had happened when she suddenly went rigid. The she started shaking and tears started falling down her cheeks. When Michiko had called her name her eyes had shot open. They looked wild and afraid. Michiko had attempted to calm her down and she backed up in fear and then fell unconscious. She didn't understand what was going on. She knew Sasumi-san had suffered horribly sometimes in her past life, but she didn't know the details. Besides, Sasumi-san had never acted this way before and it was confusing and she felt slightly afraid for her. She picked her up and placed her on a bed in the same room as her teammates. She was determined to get answers when they woke up. She sat down on a chair and waited.

**Shikamaru yawned and made his way quickly to his house. **Usually he didn't go quickly anywhere, but if he didn't get home soon his mother was going to yell at him. Loudly and annoyingly as usual. A he passed a store, he heard two women inside gossiping.

"…that girl just walked down the road! She was covered in blood and she was carrying the Uchiha boy and that _other _boy."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I just…"

Shikamaru frowned slightly. Uchiha + _other _boy + girl covered in blood equaled…

Shikamaru half ran to the hospital.

After finding out their room he walked up a staircase and knocked on their door. A short woman with black hair opened the door and looked suspiciously at him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"One of their friends," he said, pointing through the doorway.

She sighed and stepped aside to let him into the room. Naruto's shirt had been completely ripped up and was stained with blood, but it looked like he had been healed.

_"Sasumi, probably."_

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with Sasuke, and Sasumi had a few stains of blood on her clothes, but nothing serious.

"What happened? he asked the doctor, who was sitting in a chair next to Sasumi's bedside.

"I was hoping you could tell me," she said, "She just came in here with them and…passed out."

Her pause didn't go unnoticed by Shikamaru. He looked over to Sasumi and saw that her eyes were slightly open.

"Sasumi!"

The doctor shook her gently, "Sasumi-san."

Her eyes opened wider and she sat up so fast that the doctor had to lean back quickly to avoid being hit. She looked around the room.

"What happened?" she asked slowly.

"You fell unconscious, Sasumi-san," the doctor said.

Sasumi caught sight of Naruto and Sasuke. She made to stand up but the doctor stopped her.

"They're fine," she said, "Don't exert yourself."

"Are you sure?" The red-haired girl said, craning her neck to get a better look. She looked more desperate and panicked than Shikamaru had ever seen her. She was shaking slightly and her hands gripped the sheets. The doctor frowned and studied her intently.

"Look, Sasumi-san, You're hyperventilating. I need you to calm down."

The girl didn't seem to hear her.

"Sasumi!" Shikamaru said loudly, trying to snap her out of it.

She turned to him and blinked, "N-Nara-san?" she stuttered, "What are you doing here?"

She had more emotion on her face than Shikamaru had ever seen on it before and it was unnerving him. The doctor went to the back of the room and took out some things that Shikamaru couldn't see. He turned his attention back to Sasumi who was staring at her gloved hands that were shaking uncontrollably.

"Sasumi, you've got to calm down, okay. Listen to me!"

She turned towards him, "W-What?"

"Look, just calm down. Think of…" he wracked his brain. Of all the troublesome things…"Er…tell me what happened."

She opened her mouth to say something, but another voice interrupted her.

"Ugh…what the hell happened?" Shikamaru looked to his left to see Naruto sitting up in bed, "Sasumi? What…?" He froze, a look of realization on his face.

"Sasumi," Naruto whispered seriously, "What's going on?"

But Sasumi had frozen, her eyes as wide as he had ever seen them. Shikamaru followed her gaze to the front of the room where the doctor was. But it wasn't the doctor that she was staring at it was what was in the doctor's hand. A syringe.

Shit.

Warning bells went off in his head. This was not good.

"Hey…wait…" He tried, but doctor walked towards them.

"Sasumi?" Said Naruto, looking a little confused.

Dammit! How the hell was he supposed to tell this doctor that Sasumi had a deathly fear of needles without actually telling her?

Sasumi backed up against the wall, suddenly looking like a small child.

"Hey, look," he said to the doctor, "I think that's bit much…ah…" But he didn't need to say anything else because a look of recognition appeared on her face and she stopped and put the syringe in her pocket.

"I forgot," she whispered, "Sorry…I…"

Wait, did she know? He turned to Sasumi again whose face had gone back to normal.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine," she said almost inaudibly. She looked towards Naruto a slightly guilty look on her face and then towards Sasuke's unconscious form.

"Sorry," she whispered, "I couldn't get there any sooner."

"Sasumi," Naruto said determinedly, ignoring Shikamaru's and the doctor's confused looks, "What the _hell _was that?"

Suddenly, Shikamaru had a very bad feeling, "Look, what happened?" he asked.

Both Sasumi and Naruto ignored him.

"I'll tell you," she said slowly, "But please wait until Uchiha-san wakes up."

"No need."

They all turned towards Sasuke's bed where he sat, looking warily at Sasumi.

Sasumi opened her mouth and repeated the same story that she had told Shikamaru about two months before.

**Author's Notes: I'm evil, I know. I think I'm addicted to cliffhangers. They're just so fun to write! Don't worry, next chapter you'll find out Sasumi's past. And a warning: It's rather horrific, just letting you know. You've had a few hints, but you get most of it next chapter. You will also find out exactly _how_ messed up she is. I'm sure you just can't wait for that! Lol.**

**Anyway, I know that both Sasuke and Shikamaru are rather OOC, but if you think of the circumstances and I suppose it makes sense. **

**Another thing, to clear up some misunderstandings about this chapter. Sasumi is NOT, I repeat, NOT invincible. She's not really that much stronger than the average Jounin, but that's only because of her Kekkai Genkai. I'll explain it more next chapter, but I didn't want people to think that I'm god-modding. And if you think her being as strong as the average Jounin is weird, just look at Kakashi and Itachi. It's not that unheard of. **

**About Sasumi's arm: the one that she broke herself (during the Chuunin Exam) isn't the one that was originally messed up. Her left arm has been messed up since the start of this story. Her right arm, which was in a cast, isn't anymore because it's been three months since it was broken, enough time for it to 'heal.' Why she ties her left arm to her waist is because its messed up and will get in the way of a serious fight. **

**Wow. My Author's Notes are just getting longer and longer! Please review and tell me what you think! **


	13. Shi no Me

Chapter Twelve-

"**In order for you to understand, **I need to tell you the entire story, which starts before I was born," she said softly, all emotion on her face gone.

For some reason Naruto couldn't help get the feeling that despite what her face looked like, Sasumi was not calm at all. It was something about the look in her eyes that made him feel like she less composed than she was letting on.

Shikamaru had disappeared, the doctor, whom he was sure was the same woman who had treated Sasumi when she was starving, had pulled up a chair, and Sasuke had come and sat on the foot of his bed.

"Almost two hundred years ago, before the founding of the Five Great Countries, a huge army of highly skilled shinobi set out to destroy all people of a certain clan."

Naruto was confused. That was not what he was expecting at all. Besides, what did she mean, 'her story starts before she was born'?

"In the end, the clan was all but wiped out. In fact, only one person survived. He managed to escape the onslaught and wandered into the land that is now ruled by the Rain. He changed his name and married into a low-level clan. No one realized that he used to be part of the most deadly clan on earth until a child with the infamous Kekkai Genkai of this seemingly wiped out clan was born."

"What do you mean," Sasuke said warily, "When you say 'the most deadly clan on earth?'"

"The clan was wiped out, for the sole reason that they were simply too dangerous."

Sasumi closed her eyes; she looked more tired than Naruto had ever seen her. It was strange seeing the most impassive person he had ever met look this way. Strange and uncomfortable, as if he knew something was wrong, but for the life of him, he could not figure out exactly what it was.

"Their Kekkai Genkai has three parts, just like the Uchiha Clan has two."

Naruto blinked and turned to Sasuke who looked startled, "How did you know that?" he whispered, looking shocked.

She ignored him, gracing him with only a glance before continuing. Sasuke swallowed and gripped the sheets of the bed reflexively.

"The first part is that a person that holds the ability is able to look into another person's memories."

The woman spoke for the first time, "You mean like mind reading?"

Naruto went rigid, _"Mind reading?"_

He suddenly felt very insecure.

"No, it's more complex than that. The user is able to 'search' through a person's memories, however, they are not able to 'see' what that person is thinking at the present time."

Naruto gulped, that was really scary. A person like that could just look at him and know what was _inside _him.

"The second part is immunity to genjutsu. The user is not able to be fooled by certain genjutsu or even see them at all."

Naruto was suddenly reminded of the time during the Chuunin exam when he and Sasuke though they were on the third floor when the really were on the second. Sasumi had been confused as to why they thought they were on the right floor. His eyes widened as he came to a realization. Wait… was Sasumi…!

Sasuke went rigid beside him and inhaled sharply.

"And the third and final part of that Kekkai Genkai is the ability to look into the eyes of an enemy and cause their brain to overload, thus killing them. This Kekkai Genkai has no fancy name like the Sharingan," she said her voice getting colder with each word she spoke. "Its name is plain and straightforward. The name of this bloodline limit is the Shi no Me, or Eyes of Death."

There was a long silence before Sasumi spoke again.

"This ability is characterized by the blackening of the entire eyeball."

"Sasumi," Naruto whispered, "What are you saying? Do you mean to tell us that…" He trailed off, not sure how to put it.

"Yes," she said almost inaudibly, "The clan that was nearly wiped out two hundred years ago was the Yamaki clan and I am the sole possessor of the Shi no Me."

Silence again. Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but Sasumi wasn't done yet.

"Now you can imagine the Rain's surprise, when they found that a member of their village had this ability."

Naruto had a horrible suspicion of where this was going to lead.

**Sasumi was panicking. **There was no other word for it. It was different with Shikamaru. She didn't really know him that well and hadn't had much interaction with him before she told him. She didn't care the if Shikamaru hated her, as long as he didn't talk she would have been fine. She was terrified that they would hate her, just like all the others had. She had grown too attached to them and she knew it, but there was nothing she could do about it now. With Shikamaru she was able to close down all her emotions and she told her past in the same manner that she would read out of a textbook. But she couldn't do that when she was this scared.

"They wanted to test it, to use it for their own devices. They performed experiments on…and when they were unable to get any results they asked me the properties of my ability. When I was unable to answer they…used…more extreme measures."

By the looks on their faces, she knew they were remembering when she unwrapped one of the bandages on her arm. Sasumi felt sick, every nerve in her body was telling her run and get away. But she forced herself to stay.

"W-when I turned ten," she stuttered, horrified to find herself shaking, "I got sick of it. I got sick of them-" she cut herself off. No, they didn't need to know the details, though Hanada-san could probably guess.

"And I used the Shi no Me to escape. After wandering around for a few months, I came across Konoha and…" She realized she didn't have anything to say and then there was silence again.

"Well…" came Naruto's voice, "That…explains a lot."

She couldn't even look at them. It was taking all her will power to simply hold back her tears.

"Sasumi-san," Hanada-san said quietly, "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" she said quickly, a little too quickly.

For once she was glad that she had bangs to cover her eyes that were permanently glued to her lap. No one said anything and she knew what they were all thinking. They were all worrying about if she'd seen _all _their memories. It wasn't that unreasonable, after all, they had their fair share of dark secrets, Naruto especially.

She was shaking again and felt her face contort as she tried to fight back her tears. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she flinched.

"Sasumi?" came Naruto's voice, "Look, we-we understand, you know?…It's okay…rig…right, bastard?" There was a pause. "Sasuke?"

She heard Sasuke exhale heavily, "Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, but he sounded more tired than angry.

"Sorry," Sasumi whispered, hating how weak she sounded, "I…I suppose I was afraid. Sorry." she repeated.

"Don't," he said stiffly, "Say that. It's fine."

"Really, Sasumi. It's…it's okay." Naruto said, and she could practically see him smiling.

Her eyes widened and a tear fell down her cheek. She reached up to wipe them away, a small smile gracing her face.

"Thank you…so…much…" her voice broke and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

She scrubbed the tear off her face vigorously, leaving no sign that it had ever been there in the first place.

"Sasumi…" Sasuke said, though he sounded less condescending than he did normally, "This Kekkai Genkai…do you mean to tell us that…that just by looking at us…you could see…everything…and _kill_ us!?"

Sasumi bit her lip, pondering her answer. If she told the truth, then that meant that she would be putting a lot of trust into them. If she told them of her weakness they could use it against her. However, if she lied…no, what was she saying? These weren't Rain nin and this certainly wasn't three years ago.

"Yes and no," She said softly, raising her head slightly to look out the window so she wouldn't have to see their faces, "The truth is that while I may be able to look through you-anyone's memories, the third part of my Kekkai Genkai is invalid."

"Invalid…you mean, it doesn't work?" Said Naruto, obviously confused.

"I suppose you could say th-…yes, that is true. The truth is that my Kekkai Genkai had been partially eroded over the generations of being passed down. I used the…final part three years ago and have not been able to use it since. It appears that I have 'used up' that certain power," she turned to face them finally registering their surprised faces, "In reality, I only have a couple drops of Yamaki blood in me. It is a wonder that I retained any of the Kekkai Genkai at all."

They stared at her and she didn't dare delve into their minds.

"Sasumi…" said Naruto, surprisingly quiet voice, "Do you…" he paused, but she knew what he wanted to ask her. In the end, it all came down to jinchuuriki, didn't it?

"It's fine," she said firmly. He didn't look convinced, but she wasn't about to say anything more in front of Sasuke. It was Naruto's secret after all and she had no business in telling it. If Naruto had been about to say anything else he wouldn't have gotten a chance.

There were footsteps and she looked up to see Shikamaru enter the room again. He looked faintly surprised at the sight of her face, causing her to automatically look down again.

"Now will you tell me what happened?" he asked, though he sounded more gentle than he usually did.

Sasumi carefully contemplated her answer before speaking, "Two people came to Konoha for a certain item," she said slowly, registering Naruto's small flinch, "I deemed it… unadvisable that they gain this item and was forced to impede them from their operation. I also considered it necessary to use force in doing so."

He exhaled understandingly and nodded shortly, looking grim.

"The problem is, however," she continued, "Is that certain Jounin and members of the ANBU knew that these people were in the village before my encounter with them. They also knew that these people would not leave without that certain object unless a great amount of power was involved. Power they apparently did not have."

He sighed again and collapsed onto an empty chair next to Hanada-san, "I see. Uggh…how troublesome."

"Also, I was seen by several people in the aftermath of this event, which is how I suppose you knew I would be here," he groaned and Sasumi raised her eyebrows slightly. Well, it was only to be expected. It was a pretty hopeless situation after all. "Would there be any way that these people would have left without the object they desired?"

"Hmmm….Did the ANBU and Jounin know where the object was beforehand? Assuming it hadn't moved," he asked, leaning foreword in his chair.

She frowned slightly, "I'm not certain, though I doubt it."

He tapped his fingers on his seat thoughtfully. Minutes snailed by and just when Sasumi was sure that he would say it was impossible he spoke.

"Well…" he began, "The two guys could've had just wanted to secure the object, you know, make sure it was still here and intend on using it later."

Sasumi frowned slightly, it didn't seem to be a very good alibi, "Why would they want to just 'secure' it, instead of taking hi…it?"

"Maybe if the thing they wanted it for wasn't ready yet…or rather if this thing is a person, which I suspect it to be, it would have been rather troublesome to carry around, wouldn't it?"

Sasumi bit the inside of her lip once again. How did he know she was referring to a person? Did he know it was Naruto? She was tempted to check how much he knew, but decided not to. She tried to use her Kekkai Genkai only on untrustworthy people, not her friends. This made her think of other things as well. It was the second time today that she'd referred to Sasuke and Naruto and now even Shikamaru as her friends. Were they really? Would it be too presumptuous of her to think of them as not only teammates? She shook away those thoughts. Only time would tell.

"I suppose that could work," she said slowly, "Thank you, Nara-san."

He sighed and then grumbled, "I suppose you're not going to tell me what really happened?"

Her lips twitched upwardly as she shook her head.

"Sasumi," said Sasuke impatiently, "Why did It…_that man_ wa-"

"Uchiha-san, I could tell you, however, it is not mine to tell," he looked confused, "There are certain things that I would rather not talk about to than to the people they involve directly. I'm sure you can empathize," It was a low blow, but it did the job. "I'm sorry, Uchiha-san, but there it is."

He inhaled suddenly and for a second Sasumi thought he was going to yell at her, but instead, he closed his eyes and nodded slowly.

There was an awkward silence. She could feel Shikamaru's confusion, Naruto's appreciation, and Sasuke's weariness. She caught Hanada-san's eyes, but immediately looked away. She wondered what she thought of her now. She was unable to build on this thought, because it was then that Hanada-san chose to speak.

"Alright, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now, " she said in her usual businesslike tone, "The hospital opens for visitors at seven, you can come then."

With that she shuffled them out, though Sasumi suspected that it was only from the shock that they let her. It was only after she closed the door that Sasumi saw the tears in her eyes. A second later Sasumi found herself being almost squeezed to death in Hanada-san's embrace. Sasumi fought off the urge to push her away. Not because she disliked the woman, but more because human contact had rarely spelled out good for her. The woman backed up a little to Sasumi's relief, and sat on the edge of her bad, wiping her tears on the sleeves of her doctor's uniform.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sasumi-san! I-I…Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Do you want some more-"

"I'm fine, Hanada-san," she said softly, unsure of why the woman was acting this way, "I'm just a little tired."

Hanada-san looked shocked, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll let you sleep then…" She moved to leave, and before Sasumi knew what she was doing she had reached out and touched her lightly on the arm.

"Don't…you don't have to leave…I mean, if you don't want to…"

For some reason Sasumi felt incredibly awkward to admit that she liked the woman's presence. In fact, she found it soothing. Almost like…

Hanada-san sat back down on the bed causing it to shake slightly as the result of her weight.

"Sasumi-san," said Hanada-san, "You know, I never felt about talking to anyone that incident, even my old friends. You probably already know, but would you mind…if I told you?"

Sasumi shook her head, unsure of any other way she should respond.

"It happened ten years ago," She started, staring out the window with a far away look in her eyes, "When I was younger, I was very wild. I would go out to parties almost every night and barely got my license to be a doctor. I believe I might have been addicted to sake at one point," she smiled humorlessly, "I'm not exactly sure when it happened, all I know was that suddenly I was pregnant. At first, I was terrified. I didn't know who the father was and I wasn't sure I wanted the baby, much less support it. I was on the verge of hysteria. I don't exactly know when, again, or why, but suddenly the prospect of having a child was exciting. I began to plan out what I would name her if she was a girl or if he was a boy. My friends were worried that I didn't know what I was getting into, but I knew," She closed her eyes and Sasumi strained to remember what had happened next. There were so many stories belonging to so many people and it was hard to keep track of, "But then the baby died. She was a baby girl." Her hands began to shake and a stray tear fell down her cheek. "Maybe it was because of all the alcohol and drugs I had consumed when I was younger, maybe not. They never told me. For a while, it seemed that I would never be able to get over her death. But eventually I forced it out of my mind and became what I am now. In fact, I never even named her," Hanada-san looked straight into Sasumi's eyes and Sasumi marveled at how bright they looked, the setting sun's light reflecting off them. "Would you mind, Sasumi-san, if I named her after you?"

Sasumi froze. She wanted to name her child after _her_?

"W-Why…" she started, but found that she wasn't sure exactly what she was going to say.

Hanada-san gave her a watery smile, "May I?"

Throat to tight to speak, Sasumi simply nodded. She didn't understand. Why, of all people, would Hanada-san want to name her child after _her_? Babies were usually named after great, famous, brave people who did good deeds; things that Sasumi knew she wasn't. She just didn't understand.

"Hanada Sasumi, huh?" Hanada-san said softly, "I like it. Thank you, Sasumi-san. I'll leave now so you can get some sleep." She wiped her eyes and closed the door as she left leaving Sasumi to her confused thoughts.

**Sasuke growled angrily as a nurse continued to check him for injuries that were obviously not there anymore. **After that doctor had thrown them out some young nurses had found them, saw the state of their clothes and practically kidnapped them. Shikamaru had escaped, that bastard, leaving both him and Naruto to the mercy of three young, blushing nurses. Well, mostly him, because they gave Naruto that same look that he'd seen some of the villagers give him, and then completely ignored him. Needless to say, Sasuke was going to kill one of them if they _accidentally_ pinched his butt again.

It was strange. Sasuke thought that he'd feel sick, or angry, or _something_ after the whole ideal. He was surprised to feel quite empty. It was a strangely refreshing feeling and he found that it was hard to put into words what he felt, at least inside his head. Everything seemed different and incredibly odd. He supposed that the shock of what Sasumi had been hiding distracted him. He furrowed his eyebrows and thought about the past events. It was hard to wrap his mind around. First, _that man_ coming back, for Naruto of all people, and then Sasumi's Kekkai Genkai. His mood darkened at the thought of his brother and his parting words. God damn him. Sasuke was going to kill him! KILL HI-No, he shouldn't think about that. He took several deep breathes and dug his nails into his hands to gain some semblance of self control.

He glanced at Naruto, who was strangely quiet. Sasuke frowned. What was he hiding that Sasumi knew about? And why were his brother and that other man after him? Were the two things connected? Usually, he would have asked, but somehow he doubted that Naruto would tell him. He'd just have to figure it out himself. Finally, the nurses left, giggling after ordering that they were not to leave their beds. Sasuke cringed at this. Evil women. He and Naruto were left in silence and out of the corner of his eye Sasuke noticed that Naruto was playing with the bed sheet. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. Was Naruto, gods forbid, nervous? His curiosity piqued, Sasuke leant over to talk to him.

"Oi, moron, what-"

But he was cut off as a Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Yo!"

Sasuke scowled, not only because his gray haired teacher had disrupted him, but also because Sasuke would have to 'explain' to Kakashi what Shikamaru had said was a good alibi. Kakashi surveyed them carefully.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're both okay," he said jovially, causing Sasuke to glower. Damn him, "What happened?" he said casually.

Sasuke growled angrily and focused on the story he was supposed to tell, "_He _came," he snarled, inwardly surprised how angry he sounded, "And said something about securing something, Sasumi mentioned ANBU and he left." Sasuke looked away his hands fisting the sheet, shaking in anger.

"What was he after?" Kakashi said softly, probably realizing that Sasuke was furious.

"Me," said Naruto before he could answer. Sasuke swallowed his anger for the time being, and listened very carefully to what Kakashi was going to say next. To his annoyance, Kakashi merely nodded. Suddenly, Sasuke realized that the last time he had seen Kakashi he had been injured and asleep. Had someone healed him? Before he could ask, Kakashi disappeared. Sasuke looked over to see Naruto curled into his sheets. He outwardly sighed and lay back against the headboard of the bed and fell into restless nightmares about that fateful night six years ago.

**Author's Notes: So…yeah…Chapter Twelve. I think I'm about halfway done, but then again you can never tell! Some people were complaining about Sasumi's Kekkai Genkai being too strong. I realize that it is powerful, but then again Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan is basically invincible. Her Kekkai Genkai is not perfect, just be patient. Next chapter will probably be a little of a filler and then little of our favorite snake-loving, child-molester. In fact, all of the Sannin will appear. I'm sure you can hardly wait. Also, I'm not planning on making Sasuke and Naruto less important than Sasumi, I just needed the focus to be on her in the beginning because you don't know anything about her, but you know about them already. They won't be useless, I promise! So, yeah, next chapter: Of Scars and Hatred II!**


	14. Of Scars and Hatred II

Chapter Thirteen-

**It was very hard at first. **Not that he didn't expect it to be. Getting used to a Sasumi who could read your mind was not only frightening, but also very awkward. Naruto had to stop himself nearly everyday from breaking eye contact with her. After all, it wasn't like she didn't know everything already. Sasuke was also struggling to come to terms with this new development. Weeks went by and slowly he got used to this new Sasumi. Naruto could tell that she was glad that those few awkward days were over. He supposed that was why he tried so hard to treat her like he always had. He knew from personal experience how it felt to be treated differently because of something you had no control over. But still, it was strange. While Naruto was used to the adults of Konoha knowing about the Kyuubi, the thought of his teammates knowing was something he never really considered. What would Sasuke think, he wondered, if he knew about the Kyuubi? What would they all think? What would they do? He felt quite stupid for never thinking about it before. It wasn't like he could hide it forever. It _was_ sort of nice, though, that Sasumi already knew. He didn't have to worry about what she thought of him, either, because she told him it was okay. And from Sasumi, that was saying a lot.

Another thing was the new Hokage. Naruto wasn't really sure if he liked her. She was this really loud, annoying lady, with really, really, big…er…Anyway, apparently Ero-sennin's old teammate and he had managed to convince her to become Hokage, otherwise he would've had to be. Naruto, while still thinking she was annoying, had to be glad that his other sensei hadn't become the Godaime. He was sure that the council was also extremely relived. Ero-sennin had also said something about some guy named Orochimaru, who Naruto was pretty sure was that same lady who they fought in the Chuunin Exam. Ero-sennin also said he was a guy. Naruto just didn't understand people like that. After all, trying to take over Konoha was one thing, but dressing like a girl? Did the guy not have _any_ pride?

Missions were as usual: boring as hell. Even after they had all become Chuunin. Unexpectedly, not only did his entire team pass the Exam, but also Neji and Lee's team and oddly Shikamaru. Kakashi-sensei mentioned something about Konoha needing more Chuunin because of all the deaths during the war with the Sand, but Naruto wasn't really listening. Along with having stupid missions, they also had a lot less missions in general. Kakashi-sensei was always gone now, so even if Naruto wanted to see him he couldn't. The year before, they had had missions almost every week if not more, but now they would only get one every few weeks, giving Naruto lots of time to train. And train he did, after all, just because they didn't have missions, didn't mean he was going to go easy on that bastard teammate of his. Once or twice he and Sasuke had dragged Sasumi out to teach them jutsu and stuff she had either read or seen in someone's memory, but Sasumi seemed to have a hard time explaining stuff she'd seen in peoples minds. She said it was more of a certain feeling, and though Naruto hated it, he sort of understood. He couldn't really have explained to anyone how to create Kage Bushin, it was something you just sort of did. So he spent most of his time training alone. Sasumi had given him this book of jutsu and he had looked through it a bit. However, since he couldn't read half of it, it was rather hard to learn anything. So the book sat in his apartment, collecting dust, while Naruto occasionally sparred with the bastard and ate ramen. He had tried to get Ero-sennin to teach him something else, but then he had gone away on business about what Naruto suspected was something involving his new book he had been raving about. Everything was quite boring for awhile until something happened that brought him painfully back to earth.

It was raining on the day it happened. Naruto grumbled angrily at his training session being disrupted and ran through the empty streets of Konoha back to his apartment, yelling obscenities. He was running up the stairs when he got this horrible feeling that something was wrong. He cleared the last steps, turned the corner and froze.

His apartment door was barely attached to the wall and was swaying back and forth slowly. Pieces had been ripped out and Naruto could make out the words 'monster' and 'demon' painted on it. He closed his eyes and opened them, hoping that it would just go away. When it didn't, he pushed the door open just so he could get through and entered the remains of his apartment. Immediately Naruto began coughing at the putrid smell of smoke and in the back of his mind he wondered why he hadn't smelt it earlier. He looked up, his eyes watering and surveyed the damage.

Half his stuff seemed to have been burned and the rest torn into bits. The walls were painted with more words, everyone making Naruto even more sick. His windows had been shattered, and the contents of his dresser were strewn across the room. He caught sight of his broken fridge dumped in a corner, its contents all over the place. His few posters that had been haphazardly tacked to the wall had been shredded or painted over and the few plants that he'd had around had been reduced to an ash, their pots in bits. His only chair had all its legs ripped off, which lay over by the shattered remains of his mirror. The rackety frame of his bed had disappeared along with his table, and his mattress had been ripped to pieces. Every single thing he owned besides what he had on him was ruined.

Naruto closed his eyes again, but this time he didn't open them for a long time and his hands became fists. To his horror he realized his eyes were watering again, though this time it had nothing to do with the smoke. He rubbed them furiously, biting his lip. No, he wouldn't cry. He was too old for crying. He wasn't a kid anymore and he wasn't going to cry over something he couldn't change. Naruto wiped his eyes again and poked through the wreckage. He was glad that at least he was wearing his headband. He didn't know what he would do if it had been damaged too. Whoever had done this, he thought, had certainly done a good job. After prodding around the mess he found that there was not a single thing that wasn't spoiled. Naruto looked out his broken window and realized that it was getting dark. He moved closer to the window and then stumbled over something falling with a crash onto some fragments of broken pottery. He yet out a yelp and jumped up, holding his cheek and feeling blood run down it. Naruto carefully walked over to his broken mirror and inspected his cheek. It wasn't that bad and Naruto carefully wiped the blood that was threatening to fall onto his jacket off. He looked around the room and found the thing he had tripped over. It was that book that Sasumi had given him. One of the only presents he had gotten in his life. He knelt down and opened the now burnt cover carefully. He flipped through the pages and then shut it, his hands covered in soot. And suddenly it was too much. He wasn't sure why it hurt so much, after all, this wasn't the first time his stuff had been wrecked. Maybe it was because it hadn't happened in so long. Maybe it was because he thought…stupidly thought, that they didn't hate him anymore. Maybe…

Naruto wrapped his arms around himself and closed his eyes

He wasn't sure how long he sat there. Just sat there. In the middle of his misery he suddenly realized that he couldn't stay here. They might come back and he was in no shape to deal with them. He stood up slowly and opened his eyes. Naruto could barely see his apartment now it was so late. But where would he go? Iruka-sensei was out of the question. Naruto couldn't count how many times he had been there. He had disturbed him enough and he was probably on a mission. He didn't know where Kakashi-sensei lived and even if he did he was pretty sure that the Jounin was on a mission as well. He knew around what district Sasumi lived, but even he wasn't stupid enough to wander around there at this hour. That left only one option: Sasuke. Just great. Naruto looked around the apartment once more before quietly slipping out and climbing as stealthily as he could down the stairs. And of course it was still raining. Stupid rain. He had been to Sasuke's apartment once or twice before, but he wasn't sure he could find it in the dark.

Wait, who was he kidding? Of course he could find it! He was Uzumaki Naruto, for God's sake! The future Hokage! Naruto grinned at the thought of the look on Sasuke's face when he knocked on his door and set off making as much noise as he could. Sure, they trashed his apartment, but that didn't mean they were going to get away with it. He wasn't going to let them get to him! He laughed loudly as he "accidentally" upset a garbage bin, sending it crashed down the street. Haha, take that! Lights turned on in apartments above him and he heard angry voices from inside. Oops…?

**Sasuke was rudely awoken from a strange dream involving dancing kunai by someone pounding at his door. **He groaned and turned over, trying to ignore the noise, and when it persisted he was forced to get out of his nice, warm bed. Whoever was at the door was about to suffer a long and painful death. He stumbled out of bed, unlocked the door and wrenched it open.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU…Naruto?" he snarled and then blinked in surprise as he took in Naruto, who was soaking wet and beaming at him like he had just won the lottery.

"Holy shit, you have a nice apartment!" Naruto said loudly, swerving around him into the room, "Ooh! You have a TV too? Cool!"

Sasuke opened his mouth and then closed it. On the third try he actually managed to speak.

"Naruto, it is one in the morning. Would you mind telling me _what the hell you are doing here_!" No, Sasuke was not very happy at the moment.

"My apartment got trashed, so I'm staying here," Naruto said calmly, "You have a balcony! That's no fair! Why do you get all the good stuff!?"

"What the…there is NO way you are staying…" Sasuke paused. Wait… "Your apartment got trashed?" Naruto, didn't seem to hear him because he was too busy flipping through the channels on Sasuke's TV.

"Naruto…Oi, Naruto!" Damn that moron, was he deaf? "NARUTO!!"

"Geez, bastard, you don't have to yell."

That little piece of…

"I _said, _your apartment got trashed?"

"Yep."

Sasuke stared as Naruto continued to play around with his television until he found a channel involving a bunch of nearly naked women dancing around. Of course he just _had _to find that channel…

"What did you do?" he said wearily as Naruto resumed flipping channels again.

Naruto turned around and glared at him, "I didn't do anything," he said with more vehemence than necessary

Sasuke arched an eyebrow, "Really?" he said sarcastically.

If even possible, Naruto looked even more angry, "Look you bast…ard…woah…"

His eyes had returned to the television screen where two people were…

Sasuke ripped the channel changer out of Naruto's hands and turned off the TV, his cheeks burning. Goddamn, that stupid blond-

"So that's what you do with you're free time," Naruto sniggered, "Geez, Sasuke, I never knew you were such a pervert."

"Na…ru…to…!" He. Was. Dead.

"Hey, hey, I was joking, really-OWW!"

Half an hour later both of them lay on their backs breathing heavily.

"I…so…beat you…you bastard!"

"Like hell…moron."

Sasuke groaned, pulled himself up and collapsed on his bed. Mmmm….nice bed…

"Oi, bastard, where am I gonna sleep?"

Sasuke opened an eye to see Naruto, complete with black eye, standing next to his bed, looking perfectly awake and not in the least worn out. Damn his stamina…

"On the floor," groaned Sasuke burying his head in his pillow.

"You sleep on the floor! I'm the guest!"

Why was he so darn _loud_? If Sasuke had had more energy he would have cut out his vocal cords.

"Fine," he growled, too tired to argue, "Sleep on the couch."

There was a pause, "Err…where is the couch?"

Sasuke took a deep breath. And another. And another.

"Behind. You."

"Ohhhhh…cool, I didn't see that before! Wow, that's-"

Sasuke drowned out the rest by stuffing his head under his pillow. He'd kill him tomorrow, he decided.

**Naruto groaned. **He was lying on something not as soft as his bed and he was pissed. He sat up and wiped his eyes. Wait…something was off. Why was he in Sasuke's room? With a jolt he remembered the reason why he was sleeping on Sasuke's couch instead of his own bed. He jumped up, his injuries had healed over night, and proceeded to wake Sasuke up in a fashion that suited him best.

"WAKE UP, BASTARD!! I'M HUNGRY!!

To say that Sasuke was unhappy was a very large understatement.

Because Sasuke was a bastard (like that was anything new), he absolutely refused to take him out to ramen, so instead Naruto was forced to eat onigiri for breakfast. Onigiri. Seriously, what kind of freak eats that crap? For breakfast, too! The most important meal of the day! Along with lunch, dinner, midnight snacks, another snack, and…

Naruto hung around (or messed around, take your pick) at Sasuke's apartment until about ten, when he realized that he had an apartment to clean up, and he had better start soon.

"Well, bastard, I'll leave you to your pervy videos, 'cause I've got things to do."

Sasuke ignored the jibe and raised his eyebrow quizzically, "Where are you going?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. And he was supposed to be a genius, "Home, where else? Unless you want me to camp out on your couch again tonight, I suggest you don't stop…what are you doing?"

Sasuke had gotten up, grabbed his elbow, and was currently dragging him out the door.

"Coming with you, moron. Who knows what'll happen if you try to clean? You'll probably set the village on fire."

Not to be outdone, Naruto wrenched his elbow out of Sasuke's grip, "Geez, bastard, you could just tell me you don't have enough porn to watch. I happen to know a nice store right near the…OWW!!"

Halfway through their next fight, Naruto noticed that Sasuke was not in fact going to his apartment. To tell the truth Sasuke seemed to be dragging him into the worst neighborhood in the village.

"Uhh…where are you going?"

"To Sasumi's."

"…Err…why?"

" 'Cause she's going to help us."

"Oh…Wait, you know where she lives?"

Sasuke looked down at him disdainfully, "Yes."

"God, first you're a closet perv, then you stalk people, what's next, cross dressing? Hey…actually, I can kind of see that…uh…Sasuke, you might want to breath."

"I'm going to KILL you!"

"Geez, don't take out your sexual frustration on me. I'm sure there's plenty of girls out there who- Goddammit, Sasuke, stop hitting me.

"Then shut up."

Naruto stuck out his tongue at him. He looked around carefully, half-expecting an enemy to jump out from behind a garbage bin.

"Are you sure you this is a good idea? These people…er…don't seem very nice."

Sasuke glared at him, though Naruto noticed that he seemed a little less sure than he had been half and hour ago. They walked in an awkward silence until they climbed up a set of rickety stairs to and knocked on a worn door with the number 333 burned into it. Sasuke raised his hand and knocked on the door two times and stood back.

"Oi, Sasumi?! Are you in there?"

"Shut up, moron, you don't want to be attracting trouble around here."

"Why not?"

"…moron."

"Oi, take it back, bastard!"

"Just shut up you stu-"

They were interrupted by a toneless voice from behind the door, "Who's there?"

Naruto raised his eyebrows, "What kind of question is that?"

There was no answer and then a shuffling noise from behind the door. He heard the clinks of several locks being unbolted and then the door was wrenched open.

"Finally, we thought you'd never…" Naruto trailed off, his eyes widening.

Sasumi stood, one arm still on the door, the other limply at her side. She wasn't wearing her normal clothes, but her nightclothes. If it was any other situation Naruto would have wondered if they had woken her up. However, he was in too much shock to notice much.

Ever since the first time he had seen her Sasumi had always worn bandages around both arms and legs. It wasn't uncommon for shinobi to wear bandages on their arms or legs and Naruto was used to the strange fashion senses of the Konoha shinobi. He had never really given it much thought until now, because Sasumi wasn't wearing the bandages or the weird thing she always worn around her neck, giving him a clear view of the grotesque scars and burns that were etched in her skin. If he had been more attentive, he would have noticed the three black markings on her right forearm. Naruto swallowed the bile rising in his throat.

"Err…hey…Sasumi, we were wondering…if, well…uh…"

She raised an eyebrow and pulled the door open further and stood back.

"You shouldn't stay out there," she said dully.

Before Naruto knew what had happened he and Sasuke were in Sasumi's apartment and she had closed the door behind him. Sasumi's apartment was…well, empty. There was an old mattress in the corner, a window, and a large dresser that looked like it would collapse if you touched it. That was it. And Naruto thought he was bad off.

"What happened?" she asked them.

Naruto forced himself to look away from the scars, but when he saw the tenseness in her face he couldn't remember what he was going to say.

"Someone trashed this moron's apartment, care to help us clean it up? Who knows what'll happen if he tries alone?"

"Didn't you know?" Naruto blurted out, ignoring Sasuke's look, "I mean, when you saw us, couldn't you tell?"

"I could," she said a bit more carefully than Naruto thought was nessacary, "But it takes energy and I didn't need to."

Naruto blinked. What did she mean, she didn't need to?

"Wait one minute."

He looked around to see Sasumi walk to the dresser pull out her clothes and bandages. He and Sasuke watched in an awkward silence as she wrapped the bandages around her appendages and pull on her shorts and shirt over her nightclothes. She grabbed the neck thing, or whatever it was and then pulled the door open again. They walked out silently and followed Sasumi out of that part of town.

"Did you do anything that might explain why your apartment was broken into?" she asked after they were a little closer to his apartment.

"No! Geez why do you always assume it was my fault?" It wasn't his fault they hated him! It wasn't!!

"I didn't say that."

"Well…I mean…"

"Naruto, you painted 'stupid' on all the Hokage's faces, you glued Iruka's grading book shut, you-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. Fine, be that way."

Sasuke scoffed, and was about to say something, when they turned the corner and the door of his apartment came into view.

Well, at least the door was still hanging.

**It wasn't fair. **She hadn't wanted them to see them. They hadn't needed to know. How could she have been so stupid? Hadn't her arm been enough? How could she have let them see the worst of it? Why hadn't she just told them to wait a minute and then quickly wrapped the bandages on? Sasuke's face portrayed shock, but Naruto's face was the worst, pure disgust. She clenched the material of her shirt with her right hand. Get over it, she told herself. It was too late anyway, and if they really were that disgusted they'd have left. She distracted herself by thinking about Naruto's question.

_Didn't you know? I mean, when you saw us, couldn't you tell?_

She had told him it wasted energy to look in someone's memory, which was true, however, it had nothing to do with why she hadn't, didn't, look. It didn't really make sense. She should be wary of them. They knew her secret now and if they told anyone, it was over. But, somehow, she couldn't help trusting them. It had been something she had been trying to figure out for a while. Why? Why did she care? They were people, like every other person who had betrayed and hurt her. She had sworn never to get involved either with anyone, ever again, but yet…she just couldn't seem to do that.

Sasumi's train of thought was cut off by the sight of Naruto's ruined apartment. Everything was either burnt or cut to pieces. She saw Sasuke look angrily around and Naruto sadly kick at a few of the remains.

"I'll go get a bucket and a mop," she told them.

They both just nodded.

**A/N: Heheheh! Er….yeah, sorry, I didn't realize that this chapter would take so long. But, don't worry, Orochimaru will definitely be next chapter. Uh…yay? Anyway, this chapter was a bit of a filler (as I said it would be) and I tried to add an little humor in, but I don't know if it worked. So review and tell me, yes or no. Special thanks to my beta, Sleeping Soundly and my reviewers: IAmAurora, Baka Hanyou Raevyn, White Alchemist Taya, Barranca, heather, kitsunekilala, EvilMoogleGirl, notBald, sandaime23, anniert, SashaGranger, psalmofsummer, Animealover, Zoey24, AkaiTrixxterShiruba, narunaru.ramen, mitsuhime, Kiyoshi Kozue, and Kingdom.Tourniquet.13; you guys are awesome! Thanks a lot!**

**Also, before I forget, the next chapter will (probably) have spoilers for stuff that happened within the latest few chapters of the manga. I highly suggest you read them before reading the next chapter. However, if you haven't been up to date with the manga from the start, you're probably used to getting spoilers, so it doesn't matter. Now you can review.**


	15. Snakes and Ladders

Chapter Fourteen-

**"I'm huuuungry! **Can we go eat ramen?"

Sasuke looked up at him like he was crazy. Which he wasn't. Well, not really.

"Do you want to get this cleaned up or not?" he asked, gesturing to the floor of his apartment. They had been working for nearly three hours and were almost done; or so Sasuke said, but Naruto wasn't going to trust him for a second.

The three of them, with the help of his and Sasumi's Kage Bushin, had managed to clear all his ruined stuff off to the side of the room closest to the door. The part of the room that they had cleared off had then had been moped and now Naruto and Sasuke were working on the wall. All this was done with minor casualties. Naruto had a few scraps on his arms and hands, and Sasuke had cut his calf on a stray piece if wood that Naruto _had not_ thrown at him. Why would he do a thing like that? And maybe he was a little guilty. Maybe. Naruto scrubbed harder at the hateful words painted on his wall from where he stood on a makeshift ladder that he and Sasumi had constructed. He glanced down at Sasuke who was holding a bucket up to him so he could dip the sponge in every time he used up all his water. Nah, he was fine.

"What the hell are you looking at, moron?"

Yep, he was definitely fine.

Naruto was about to make an angry retort when Sasumi walked in from wherever she had gone with two cans of off-white paint and a brush. Naruto's first thought was how awkward it was that she was carrying both cans and the brush in one hand, while the other was limp at her side. Wait, what was up with the paint? She put her load down and carefully opened the lids still with that same hand. Naruto shrugged. Sasumi was Sasumi. Except he still didn't know what she was doing with the paint.

"Err…Sasumi? What ar-"

"Repainting your apartment," she answered him, even before he finished asking his question.

"Oh…errr…why?"

She lifted her head and raised an eyebrow, "Have you made any progress at all in cleaning off those walls?"

"Err…no, but we don't need to paint them over!"

"Actually, that's a good idea," Sasuke said, putting down the bucket, "But we should probably get rid of all this junk first."

"Hey, that's _my_ junk!"

"We'll need a bunch of bags," Sasumi said, completely ignoring him.

"Thick ones, with all that broken glass and pottery. I'll go get some."

Naruto stared open mouthed as Sasuke walked out of the room.

"Oi, who said I wanted my apartment to be painted over?"

"We did," Sasumi answered.

Dammit, they were ganging up on him again! But they wouldn't get away with it. Not if he had anything to say about it.

Two Hours Later

"Oww…I hate paint!"

"You were the one flinging it around. It's your fault you got it in your eye, you idiot."

"Uzumaki-san, hold still. If you keep moving around, I won't be able to get it out."

Naruto gasped as Sasumi pulled her hand back, "Is it gone?"

"Yes."

Naruto's stomach growled. He was so hungry! He wanted food. Right now!

"Alright, get up, moron. We have to finish this wall."

Naruto sighed and stood up. He would never admit it, but he was really glad that Sasuke and Sasumi were here. There was less work for him to do, but he wasn't sure if he would have been able to do it on his own.

With the help of the bags that Sasuke had found, the three of them had cleared up the wreckage of nearly everything that had belonged to Naruto and thrown it in the dumpster outside. They had painted three of the four walls and were halfway through the last one. Originally Naruto thought they were just going to paint over the graffiti, however, Sasumi had brought so much paint that they ended up painting the entire wall. Naruto was just glad that no one had mentioned the ceiling. They alternated using the brush and when not painting they made sure that none of the paint dripped onto the floor. Naruto covered the last part with a flourish.

"Hahaha! We're done! Finally!"

"And I suppose you're just going to sleep on the floor."

Naruto scowled. That bastard just had to ruin everything, didn't he?

"I'll figure it out later, but right now I want ramen! Ramen, ramen, ramen!!!"

And Goddammit Sasuke was giving him that look again!

**After Naruto wouldn't stop talking, **Sasuke finally gave in and let the moron have his way. Just this once, of course. He scowled. This was almost as bad as when Kakashi told Naruto that he couldn't wear his orange jumpsuit anymore because they were Chuunin and had to wear a uniform. Naruto threw a fit because Sasumi didn't have to wear the uniform (she did anyway) and called Kakashi a sexist as well as a bunch of other names Sasuke wouldn't repeat. Now, he was deeply regretting ever agreeing to eat dinner with the blonde, he would just not stop eating. And talking.

"Another bowl, ojisan! Hey, Sasuke don't you want anymore?"

Sasuke found it below him to answer such a question.

"Fine, be that way. How about you Sasumi?"

"No, thank you."

"Geez, you guys are weird."

Sasuke inwardly sighed and turned his attention away from the blond and out onto the street. Ever since they had left his apartment that morning people had constantly been staring, pointing, and whispering wherever they went. As the only remaining Uchiha, Sasuke was used to being stared at, however, not to this extent. And they weren't only staring at him, but Naruto too. Sasuke scowled. He wouldn't have been surprised if they knew what had happened to his blond teammate's apartment. The whole matter was confusing him, though. Why on earth would someone go to the extent they did on ruining all Naruto's things? Surely they had better things to do. And there was no way Naruto could have done something that would make them that mad. Pranks were one thing, but Sasuke had yet to see Naruto perform a prank that actually hurt anyone so badly that they would wreck his apartment. It was driving him insane. Sasumi knew, but wouldn't tell him. Sasuke could understand why, but he was Naruto's teammate too! Didn't he have the right to know? Kakashi also knew, Sasuke could tell. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only one who didn't know whatever 'it' was. No matter how many ways he looked at it, it all boiled down to the same thing. Naruto was hiding something. All the villagers seemed to know…but, wait. Did anyone his age or younger know? While Naruto had never been popular among the other students at the academy, as far as Sasuke could tell, it was only because he was loud and annoying. Was Sasumi the only person his age that knew? Or was it merely a coincidence that none of the children seemed to regard Naruto with the same hatred that their parents did? And then there was the matter of what had been written all over his teammate's apartment. There were a lot of insulting words in general, but one stood out to Sasuke. The word 'monster.' Now why on earth would they call Naruto a monster? Naruto was a stupid, loudmouth, who had no sense of subtly. Calling him an idiot made sense. Not a monster. But, nonetheless, the word 'monster' had not only been written once on his walls and door, but fifteen separate times, more than any other word. To Sasuke it made no sense. It couldn't just be a coincidence, but he couldn't see how any of it connected to Naruto. He would have to ask Sasumi again. Maybe she would be more willing to tell him now. And if she didn't, Sasuke woul-

"Oi, Sasuke, are you alive?"

Sasuke looked back to see Naruto and Sasumi standing at the door of Ichiriku's.

"We're leaving, unless of course, you want to stay here."

Sasuke scowled and stood up, "Where are we going now?" he asked as they exited the shop.

"Er…I forgot…what was it called again, Sasumi?"

"The office of the Committee of Public Welfare. They'll compensate you for your belongings that was destroyed."

"Oh," Naruto said, "Er…what does compensate mean?"

No, he defiantly wasn't Sasuke's definition of what a monster was. He was way too stupid for that.

The second they entered the building Sasuke noticed that Naruto seemed more uncomfortable than he had ever seen him. After a fifteen minute wait they were escorted into a short, balding man's office. Although, Sasuke had only been here once or twice because his family fortune covered all his expenses, he remembered his way around. Naruto sat down in the chair in front of the desk and Sasuke and Sasumi waited by the office door. Sasuke would have thought that Naruto would have loudly greeted the man, but he sat quietly, chewing on the inside of his cheek. After almost five minutes Sasuke was sick of waiting and cleared his throat. The man looked up at him immediately.

"Uchiha-sama, what a surprise! Why don't you…" The man caught sight of Naruto and frowned, "What are you doing here, Uzumaki?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man's condescending tone, "I have a client now and I don't have the time for games."

"I'm not playing games," Naruto said through gritted teeth.

Sasuke's hands formed into fists. Not another one. But he was slightly confused. If anyone else said that to Naruto, he would have yelled at them or something. Why was he holding back?

"Then what are you here for? Hurry up, I have more important clients than you."

That did it. "I'm just waiting for him," Sasuke said, barely disguising the anger in his voice, "Take as long as you want."

The man looked confused, "Are you sure?" he said, "I can finish this up-"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said, holding himself back from punching the man.

"Er, yes. Well, what do you want, Uzumaki?" he said, turning his attention back to Naruto.

"My apartment was trashed," Naruto said shortly, "All my money was stolen and stuff ruined."

The man raised an eyebrow, "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?"

Naruto glanced behind him at him and Sasumi, looking vaguely helpless.

"Isn't it a policy of yours that if one of your client's property and possessions are destroyed in a way that isn't a result of an error of their own judgment you will reimburse them?" Sasumi said calmly from his right, but he barely heard her. He was still trying to figure out why Naruto hadn't snapped yet.

"Er…well," the gray haired man said, obviously flustered, "Well, how can I tell that he isn't lying? How do I know that he isn't just making this up?"

"You have my testimony," Sasumi said, glancing at him.

"Mine too," Sasuke said decisively.

"Now look here," the man said angrily, "I can't just believe yourstory! You could be in on it!"

"I think it would be to your advantage," Sasumi said softly, "To reimburse him."

The man's eyes widened, "Are you threatening me?" he hissed.

"Of course not," Sasumi said in that same calm voice, "However, it would be unfavorable for your company to find out the truth about the money that _disappeared_ three years ago, true?"

The man froze and Sasuke looked in surprise to Sasumi. How did she know…oh, right, Kekkai Genkai.

"We would have no need to inform your company of this unfortunate incident if our requests are granted," Sasumi said tonelessly.

The man stared at her open mouthed and then swallowed, "Well if you put it that way…well, I-I suppose I must comply to your…how much money do you require?"

Sasuke looked from the man to Sasumi and back again. He barely heard Naruto naming the amount of money. He was still in deep thought as they exited the building. This was the first time that he had actually seen her ability in action. Well, maybe not the first time, but the first time he actually knew that she was using it. He swallowed and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and then turned away. This was nothing new. He should be used to it by now. Sasuke scowled and ran headlong into Naruto.

"Owww! What the hell was that for bastard?"

"Why'd you stop, you idiot," Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth, rubbing his head.

"It's all _your_ fault, I was just looking over to see something and you ran into me!"

Sasuke was about to break his arm…or maybe his jaw, when Sasumi interrupted their fight.

"Uchiha-san, Uzumaki-san, we have to hurry otherwise the stores are going to close."

"Stores?" said the blond on his right.

"You can't sleep in an empty apartment," she said.

"Err…wait, you don't have to help me buy stuff, I can do it myself," Naruto said, turning red.

Sasuke snorted, "I doubt it."

"What's that supposed to me?" Naruto asked angrily.

"What do you think it means?"

"Argghh! You bastard, you're insulting me, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, you want to fight? I'll definitely kick your ass this time!"

After all, who knows what the idiot would buy?

**It took an hour or so for the three of them to buy everything, **and Sasumi was just glad that the old man was the only one she had to threaten. There were a few shopkeepers who looked like they would like nothing better than to throw Naruto out, but didn't only because Sasuke was there.

Even when buying furniture Sasuke and Naruto found things to argue over. Naruto wanted to buy basically everything in bright orange and the two of them spent nearly half an hour arguing over what color Naruto's new sheets should be. They finally lugged it all over to Naruto's apartment and haphazardly assembled everything. When they were done Naruto's room was a huge blotch of orange, black, white and navy blue. Sasumi had never seen Naruto so happy.

A few weeks passed after the incident, and they got more interesting missions; mostly involving helping rebuild people's homes that had been destroyed in the attack. Sasumi would have thought that the rebuilding should have been done by now, and it mostly was, but the Godaime Hokage was more interested in repairing relations between the Sand and the Leaf. Sasumi had seen her once or twice, but hadn't gotten close enough to _see_. Sasumi had bigger things to worry about, though, because one of her teammates was becoming more and more distant.

At first, Sasuke had seemed fine, well, as fine as one can be after meeting their homicidal brother for the first time in six years. However, as time went on he became even quieter than he had been before and spent more time alone. Sasumi was debating whether she should find out what he was thinking. One on hand, if he was thinking of doing something stupid, it would be better to find out as soon as possible, On the other hand, however, using her Kekkai Genkai on him would be a betrayal of his trust in her. However, before she could come up with a decision, something happened that caused her to not need to make a choice after all.

It was nine o'clock when Sasumi knocked on Naruto's door. Naruto opened it slowly and then swung it open when he realized who it was.

"Hey, Sasumi! What are you doing here? Do we have a mission tomorrow or something?" he said happily.

"No," she said softly, "We need to talk."

Naruto's grin faded and was replaced by a serious look that Sasumi rarely ever saw.

"About what?" he asked curiously.

"Uchiha-san," was all she needed to say.

**Sasuke leaned against the back of the tree trunk from a branch he was sitting on. **He stared listlessly out at the trees that surrounded the border of Konoha. Ever since they had started getting missions again Sasuke had thought a lot more about Itachi and his revenge, and he had found that he was beginning to take less pleasure in being around not only his teammates but people in general than he had before. They were holding him back, he knew. If he really was going to kill Itachi, he had no time to waste. At first, he had been distracted because of Sasumi's Kekkai Genkai, but now it didn't matter anymore. He had tried to divert his attention away from Itachi, because he knew it would make him angry and depressed. However, if he never thought about it, he would never kill Itachi. And he had to do that.

Sasuke wasn't stupid, he knew that no one could stop Itachi in the entire village. Sasumi had come close with the help of previous knowledge of how Itachi fought and her immunity to Genjutsu, however, he was still stronger than her, otherwise she would have made sure he couldn't get away. Sasuke was sick of hiding. He was sick of pretending that one day he would get his revenge and leave it at that. Which left Sasuke only one option. Forgetting about his revenge was out of the question, as well as staying in Konoha because there was no way that he would be able to get stronger than Itachi if he stayed. Which meant he had to leave. But where would he go? If he became a missing-nin he couldn't get access to many things and would constantly be on the run. Sasuke was stuck and what made it worse was that it seemed he had a time limit. Kakashi had left several hints questioning his intentions and Sasumi seemed to be observing him closely, with her Kekkai Genkai or not he didn't know. Even Naruto had appeared to have noticed something different about him and was constantly badgering him about sparring with him.

Sasuke closed his eyes and then opened them suddenly and sat up straight. There was chakra in the air and it definitely wasn't coming from Konoha. Sasuke scrunched up his face in concentration. What was with this chakra? It was weird, but for some reason it seemed slightly familiar. Where had he sensed it before? It reminded him of trees for some reason, and something far more sinister than that. Trees, trees, trees. The Chuunin Exam! It was from the Forest of Death! No wonder it was so familiar! Which meant it was…

"Hello, Sasuke-kun. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Sasuke automatically whirled around his hand on his kunai holder. Nothing. He looked to the left. Nothing. Right. Nothing. Below him. Absolutely nothing.

"Where are you?" he said loudly, forcing himself to think clearly, "Show yourself!"

There was a rustling of leaves to his left and he spun around to see a tall man with long hair wearing what looked like a bow around his waist standing on a branch of a tree opposite of him. Orochimaru.

"You!" Sasuke gasped. What was _he_ doing here? He swallowed and drew his kunai. After the incident during the second part of the Chuunin Exam, Sasuke had gone to the library and looked at some old record that were open to the public. He had found that originally Orochimaru was a Leaf nin who had betrayed the Leaf and had disappeared nearly thirty years ago. The record also mentioned that Orochimaru had been caught doing illegal experimentation on human beings prior to leaving the Leaf for good. At this thought he was forcefully reminded of Sasumi.

"You look surprised to see me? Did you really think I wouldn't return? It seems your teammate hasn't told you much," Orochimaru said with an eerie smile that made Sasuke uneasy.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke said, edging away from him. He needed to get away and fast. He may have tried to take him on before, but if even the Third Hokage hadn't been able to defeat him…

"You don't know?" the Sannin said, "How interesting."

Sasuke was about to question this, but suddenly he realized that he was in deep trouble. He wasn't strong enough to defeat Orochimaru. Much less his brother. He just wasn't strong enough.

"You're so weak. Still not enough hate, huh?" 

Sasuke's eyes widened and then narrowed angrily. He wasn't weak! He would defeat his brother and no one could stop him. And he would prove it too. He would prove it to Orochimaru and most importantly himself. He drew a few shuriken and threw them at him of them. He immediately dodged and Sasuke quickly made a few hand signals.

_"Katon! Goukakyou no Jutsu!_

The entire area was set afire Sasuke jumped up onto a higher branch. He felt a strange rush and he realized that it hade been several months since he actually fought anyone. He smirked as he watched the trees burn.

"Impressive Sasuke-kun," said Orochimaru from a different tree, "However, it doesn't seem like you've improved much."

Sasuke scowled and noted contentedly that Orochimaru's clothes were singed. He wasn't that strong after all. If he could get a good shot of Chidori at just the right place, maybe he could disable him and finish him off. He had begun to make the hand signs for Chidori when Orochimaru spoke again.

"I have an offer for you, Sasuke-kun. Why don't you come with me, and I'll make you stronger."

A**/N: …Okay, my goal for next chapter is NOT to make it end with a cliff-hanger. I'll try, I promise. Wow, most of this chapter as from Sasuke's point of view. And don't worry, he won't join Orochimaru, he may think about it, but I promise he won't. I'm trying to steer away from the original plot right now. And I think I've come up with an ending! Hurray! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and my awesome beta (even though you're mad at me for not making this story have Yaoi in it) Please review and I'll give you…a hug? And I know, the Chapter Title is horrible. I just couldn't resist! XD**


	16. Exposure

Chapter Fifteen-

**"What?"** Sasuke-kun said, his eyes wide, his guard completely dropped. Orochimaru felt a stab of annoyance, but quickly squashed it. Once the boy was in his hands, he would make him perfect. Sasuke-kun was going to be his soon. Orochimaru could feel it.

The black-haired shinobi narrowed his eyes and resumed his fighting stance, "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Don't you want to kill your brother?" Orochimaru said carefully, watching as the boy's eyes widened again, "I can help you, you know."

There was a silence as the Uchiha contemplated this.

"What's in it for you?" he said warily.

Orochimaru inwardly frowned. This was not how it was supposed to go. Sasuke-kun wasn't supposed to ask questions.

"I, too," Orochimaru said, "want Uchiha Itachi dead. Don't you? Or are you too afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" the boy shot back angrily.

That was good. People were always easier to manipulate when they were emotional.

"Then come with me," the Sannin said, "I'll help you."

Sasuke-kun looked apprehensive; hesitant, but hungry at the same time. He wanted power, Orochimaru could tell. He needed it. But something was holding him back. What was it? Orochimaru wanted to ask him why he was so attached to this village, however it would just make his soon-to-be body uncomfortable.

"I-I'll think about it," the boy finally said, his body still tensed.

"Unfortunately," Orochimaru said, "I do not have all the time in the world. We must leave tonight. "

To tell the truth, he did in fact have quite a lot of time. However, Orochimaru, by nature, was an impatient man. He wanted Uchiha Sasuke, and Orochimaru was not going to give up on him.

When Sasuke-kun didn't say anything for several seconds Orochimaru realized that he was going to need more convincing. Ch. Stubborn boy.

"I can lend a hand, Sasuke-kun," he said, "I can give you power that you can't even dream of."

There was a strange gleam in the black haired boy's eyes that Orochimaru liked. Orochimaru moved closer to the body that would soon be his.

"Wouldn't you like to be able to make him pay? Make him regret that he was ever born? You can do it, but not with out me."

The boy eye's were narrowed, though not at him. Sasuke-kun was shaking with anger or anticipation, Orochimaru couldn't tell. The red eyes that Orochimaru had seen so often in Itachi would soon belong to him. But still the boy hadn't said anything.

"What holds you back?" he hissed at the Uchiha, annoyed at his lack of response to his proposal, "What in this village is more important than your revenge?"

Sasuke-kun started at the last sentence. He glared hard at Orochimaru, anger evident in his every fiber.

"What stops you, Sasuke-kun? Is it the memories of your parents in this village?"

The Uchiha's eyes were wide again, giving him an almost innocent look.

"Or is it your pathetic teammates who have been lying to you ever since you met them?"

The boy glared angrily at him and opened his mouth to protest. The Sannin realized that that tactic wasn't working and quickly cut the thirteen year old off.

"You know," Orochimaru said softly and then dropped his voice down to a whisper, "Your parents won't be able to rest in peace knowing that their _killer_ is still on the loose, now would they?"

"What?" Sasuke-kun rasped, his voice unstable and shaky.

He had him now. The boy would do anything he said. Orochimaru smiled. He had won.

"What the _hell_ do you know about my parents?!" Uchiha Sasuke hissed.

Orochimaru sensed a warning tone in his voice and his eyes widened. What? This wasn't what was supposed to happen!

"Or my teammates?!" he continued.

"You're parents are dead, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru, completely calm, on the outside at least, "They were killed because you didn't have enough power to save them."

"SHUT UP!!"

"Don't deny it," Orochimaru continued, even though warning bells were going off in his head, "You know it's true."

The thirteen year old had a desperate look on his face mixed along with the sweat. He was trembling, and he brought his hands up to clasp his head.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he said to himself, shaking his head back and forth, "It's not my fault! It's not!"

Orochimaru hopped onto the tree branch the boy was standing on and put his hand on his shoulder. Sasuke-kun tensed immediately.

"Come with me," he said into the Uchiha's ear, "You can't accomplish your revenge if you stay in Konoha. This worthless little village's time is almost up. Soon there will be nothing left but debris and the bodies of the pitiful inhabitants of this village."

The boy said something so quietly that Orochimaru had to bend down to hear him, "What did you say?"

"I said, get your filthy hands off me."

**Naruto seemed to have completely adjusted to his new apartment. **Sure, it was a total mess, with clothes and scrolls strewn across the floor, but Sasumi would have doubted that Naruto actually lived there if there wasn't a mess. The usually lively teenager was sitting on his bed across from the red haired girl who was seated on one of Naruto's hideous orange armchairs.

"I just don't get him, Sasumi," Naruto was saying, "Like, he always was a bastard, but now he's _really_ a bastard!! He's been acting really weird and ignoring us all the time!"

"Indeed, he has been acting strangely," Sasumi replied.

"Do you…" Naruto paused looking uncomfortable all off the sudden, "I mean, have you…like seen anything…?"

"I haven't looked," Sasumi said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice, "if that's what you want to know.

Naruto reddened and looked down into his lap. An awkward silence passed.

"Do you think I should look?" she asked him, genuinely interested in his answer.

Naruto didn't say anything for a minute or so, "I dunno Sasumi, I mean…do you really think you need to?"

"He's been acting strange for almost a month."

Naruto's hands formed into fists. He looked out the window and fidgeted nervously. "Sasumi," he started, "I think-" But Sasumi didn't hear the rest of his sentence. For a second, just for a second she had sensed a chakra. It was Sasuke's chakra there was no mistaking it. But that wasn't why she was worried. After all he could have just been training. There was something about that chakra that was…was…she couldn't put it into words. All she knew was that it was bad. It was gone now, but she knew what direction it had come from. She stood up.

"…Sasumi? Have you even been listening to what I've been saying? Oi, Sasumi!?"

She looked down at him distractedly, "We're leaving."

"What?"

"Something's wrong," she told him as she crossed to the other side of the room and wrenched open the door, "Come with me."

"Sasumi! What the hell is going on??"

She walked quickly down the hallway and then down the stairs.

"Sasumi!!! Where are you going?" Naruto yelled after her.

"To Uchiha-san," she replied, "I felt a strange pulse of his chakra. Something's wrong."

"Wha-What do you mean?" Naruto had caught up with her, his orange jacket open and flapping behind him.

"I felt Sasuke's chakra and there was something strange about it. It seemed…" she struggled to find words for what she had felt, "…desperate. I don't think he was just training."

"What do you mean 'desperate?'" Naruto hollered as he swerved around an old man with a cane.

"I can't explain it," she said shortly, "Just trust me."

She kept her eyes in front of her, trying to ignore the looks Naruto was giving her. It was only when they reached the edge of the village and were jumping from tree branch to tree branch when Naruto spoke again.

"Sasumi, what's this feeling?"

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno, it feels…cold and kinda weird. It's really familiar but I can't…"

She stopped on the next tree branch and turned and looked at him carefully. Naruto looked uncomfortable. Almost scared. And then Sasumi felt it. This…this presence.

"No," she whispered, "It's him."

"Who?"

"Orochimaru."

Naruto's eyes went wide, "Wait, he was the one who- oh, shit."

"Let's go."

They went fast. Faster then Sasumi had gone for a long time. She heard a crash up ahead and her and Naruto stumbled onto the scene.

Orochimaru stood to their left. Though Sasumi had never physically seen him or rather seen the form he preferred to take, she knew his face from various books and memories.

"Well, well, well, we meet again."

She narrowed her eyes, which had began to change color, but then, in a flash, his arm moved and the there was something covering his face. A mask.

He knew. He had found out about her. She had no chance now. Sasumi couldn't see. She was blind without her eyes.

"How?" she croaked, her throat dry, but it was mostly to buy time. She needed to remember everything that she had seen in him during the Chuunin Exam. How he fought. But she couldn't. Her short-term memory was almost photographic but she had no long-term. She barely remembered her own past sometimes.

"I went to great lengths to find out about you, you know," Orochimaru said, "The Rain was…very unwilling to share your secret."

"You-" Naruto started angrily, but then stopped. Sasumi followed his gaze and time stopped.

"Sa-Sasuke…?" Naruto's eye's were wide and his hands were shaking, "Wha-What?"

Uchiha Sasuke lay with his back to a tree, his blood soaking the ground around him. Naruto rushed over to him, but Sasumi's legs wouldn't move. From where she was she could see that Sasuke was breathing shallowly and bleeding badly.

"Sasuke-kun and I had a difference in opinion," Orochimaru said, his voice muffled slightly because of the mask, "But don't worry, he'll come around."

"You bastard!" Naruto snarled turning towards Orochimaru, his eyes scarlet. Already Sasumi could see his fingernails elongating and the light stripes on his cheeks turn darker.

"Uzumaki-san, don't!" she called desperately, "Don't use it!"

Naruto turned to her, the red in his eyes fading slightly.

"Wha-" but she cut him off as she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Orochimaru move.

"Look out!"

Naruto dodged out of the way right in time, three swords stuck in the earth that he had stood on a second ago.

She suddenly felt something behind her and whirled around.

"Too late!" Orochimaru said from behind the mask.

Sasumi felt a searing pain in her left shoulder and in her abdomen. She looked down to she two swords sticking out of her body.

"Sh…it…"

She felt herself fly through the air and collide with something hard. And then Sasumi knew no more.

**No way.** That was impossible. Naruto shook, his eyes wide once more. No way. Sasumi slid down the tree trunk leaving a trail of blood.

"Sasumi!" he yelled, but she didn't move.

"N-no that can't be…" he whispered.

She couldn't be dead, that was impossible.

"Sasumi! What are you doing? Get up!" he shouted.

Orochimaru pulled off his mask and stepped towards him.

"Don't you understand, brat? The girl is dead. Now get out of here before I kill you." Orochimaru said an evil grin stamped on his features. But he wasn't looking at Naruto. He was looking past him. Throwing all caution to the wind, Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw what Orochimaru was looking at. Sasuke. Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He took a step back.

"Wha-What the hell do you want with Sasuke?" he said, stumbling over his words.

"He'll be my new body of course," Orochimaru said, "I want those eyes of his."

"Y-You…"

"Now move aside, brat."

Naruto stood his ground, "Leave him alone!" he hissed

"Na…ru…to…"

Naruto whirled around. Sasuke had gained consciousness. He looked up at him weakly with heavy lidded eyes.

Naruto ran to his side grabbing his shoulder, "Sasuke!!"

Sasuke hissed in pain and he released him. Naruto felt his eyes fill with tears. He rubbed them away quickly.

"Yo-You stupid bastard!" Naruto choked, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Na…ruto…get out…of here…"

"What!" Naruto said staring at him, "Why-"

"How sweet," Orochimaru said, causing Naruto to gasp and turn around. He had almost forgotten he was there, "He's trying to _save_ you."

Naruto's eyes widened. He looked at Sasuke and then to Sasumi who lay several yards away. Why, even now, why were they trying to save him? He didn't need saving! It was them who needed the saving! Then why-

"You… mo-moron…r…un!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth, "No," he said, "No, you stupid bastard, I'm not going to leave. I'm not going to run away! I'm going to save you, so you better pay attention!!"

"Then you'll end up like the girl," Orochimaru said dispassionately. Naruto's eye darted towards Sasumi.

"She's not dead! And you-you're going to pay for this!!!" he snarled, his voice suddenly an octave lower. He felt power fill his veins and unbeknownst to him his eyes turned a different color.

_"I'm going to kill you!!"_

Naruto launched himself at Orochimaru. Trees in the vicinity shook and his chakra turned into an arm and grabbed Orochimaru, ripping off his arm. Orochimaru disappeared and Naruto skidded to a halt. He turned around and then something hit him across the face throwing him to the ground. He picked himself up and turned to see the long haired man behind him. Orochimaru's arm was back and Naruto growled, throwing himself at the Sannin once again. Orochimaru made a few hand signs and suddenly Naruto was covered in snakes. He tried to rip them off with his claws, but they clung to him, slowly squeezing the life out of him. Anger filled Naruto and a chakra pulse ripped forth from his body cutting the snakes into little bits. A few trees fell and the ground split, but Naruto paid no attention to that. In a second he was on Orochimaru, clawing at him intent on ripping him to pieces. Something wrapped around his neck choking him and he flew backwards coughing. Orochimaru stood up his clothing and flesh torn into shreds.

"Interesting," he said softly, "Very interesting, but you can't beat me with that little power!"

Naruto roared in anger, closed his eyes, and let the Kyuubi take over.

**Sasuke hurt all over. **It had been a mistake to try and take on the Snake Sannin. He knew that now. He was having trouble breathing, seeing and thinking. Suddenly his vision was clouded with red and Sasuke felt his body slid down from its seated position and he inwardly screamed with pain. Part of him wanted to get up, but most of him just wanted to sleep. He just wanted all the pain to go away. He stared listlessly at the sideways scene before him. There was a person there. No wait, two people. They looked quite strange. A blonde haired boy and a man with long hair. The boy was red all over and was bent over on his hands like an animal. The boy-creature had fangs, claws, ears, a tail, whiskers, and his eyes were a deep hue of red. He was surrounded by a red substance with bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. The boy-creature was saying something loud, but Sasuke couldn't understand him. Then the boy's skin turned all red and is ears grew longer and suddenly he had four tails. That was funny. Who had ever heard of a boy with four tails? The boys arm reached for the man but it was stopped by…a rope? But no, the rope was moving. A snake, of course. The boy's (though Sasuke wasn't sure if it was a boy or not) arm started on fire and the long haired man punched him and then spilt in half. Sasuke blinked slowly. Then there were lots and lots of dots. Black and red ones. The boy, or whatever he was, ate them and then spat them out. There was a huge explosion, and he felt his body fly into the air and then hit the ground. The tree that Sasuke had been leaning against fell with a crash, an inch from the back of Sasuke's head. The long haired man was gone. In his place there was a giant snake, but Sasuke knew it was the man. He had the same eyes. The boy, though at the moment he looked like a fox with six tails, was much bigger and the two, the snake and the fox, were fighting again. Sasuke closed his eyes as a flash of light filled the sky. When he opened them again he couldn't see properly and his head, along with the rest of his injuries, began to throb. They had been numb ever since…ever since …a while, anyway. To make it worse, something grabbed his shoulder and was shaking him. Sasuke heard a strange noise and a it took him a few seconds to realize he had made it. There was something above him. A shape. The shape was making noise, but Sasuke couldn't understand. His vision was going haywire and the blood he had left was pounding in his ears. Sasuke felt cold and he had a sudden hysteric wish to be knocked unconscious or even dead. He felt himself being lifted onto something soft and the it was like someone turned out the lights.

**The first time he had become aware of it was when he was just about to turn in for the night. **He had felt this horrible chakra and knew right away whose it must have been. Every thing was a blur from then on. Herding the villagers into the shelters and then going out towards that monster that was no longer his student. But they were lucky. Once they reached the site the chakra had inexplicably disappeared. And there was only the shreds of Orochimaru and the nonmoving bodies of his three students. Naruto had instantly been taken away. Orders of the Council. Sasuke and Sasumi had been immediately been taken to the hospital. But when Kakashi asked to see them he was only allowed to see Sasuke. Not even the head doctor knew where Yamaki Sasumi was. Kakashi didn't even ask where Naruto was. In any other circumstances he would have gone to the Hokage first. But going to Tsunade-hime wasn't necessary until he had used up every other single idea he had. One, she had way too much work to do concerning the petitions for Naruto's death, renewing their contract with the Sand and not to mention all the fact that her old teammate was dead. But there was another reason Kakashi didn't want to go to her. It was the fact that Tsunade didn't want to be Hokage in the first place. She had basically been forced into it by Jiraiya and the Council. Which made her a lot less agreeable. But it was better than having no Hokage.

Kakashi knocked lightly on the door and inwardly braced himself.

"Go away! I'm busy!"

"I'm sorry to disturb you Hokage-sama, but it is rather important."

"I said I'm busy!!" she yelled back, clearly annoyed.

Kakashi opened the door and slid inside. Tsunade's desk was covered in papers and he could only see the top of her head over all the mess.

"Alright, alright! What the hell do you want?" she said standing up, her eyes bloodshot and her hair sticking to the sweat on her tired face. "Make it quick and then get out of here!"

"Two of my students," Kakashi said, cutting to the chase, "There were injured in the attack and I haven't been able to find them."

Tsunade sighed, "Uchiha Sasuke is in the hospital. Uzumaki Naruto is under the jurisdiction of the Council. He's in their custody. There's nothing I can do for him except make sure he has a fair trial," she said carefully.

Kakashi's eye widened, "What trial?"

Tsunade looked away from him, "The Council has judged Uzumaki Naruto to be too dangerous. They plan on executing him. All they have to do know is do through the formalities of the actual trial."

"And you plan on letting them do this?" Kakashi said lightly, though his insides were boiling with anger, "Sandaime-sama wouldn't have want-"

"Do you think I can do anything?" She said, her eyes narrowed, "The Council united overpowers me, Kakashi! They are united! I can do nothing!!"

Kakashi took a deep breath, and forced his next question out, "Where is my other student?"

Tsunade turned away from him, "Leave, Kakashi."

"Where is Yamaki Sasumi?"

"Yamaki Sasumi does not exist," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. "We found that out yesterday. I believe her name to be fake."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi said slowly.

"When Yamaki Sasumi was brought in two days ago the doctors found scars of every size and shape on her body. Torture scars," Tsunade turned towards him, "There is only one country that still uses physical torture. Our first known record of a 'Yamaki Sasumi' was almost three years ago. Put it together. What event happened three years ago that handicapped the Rain? Who killed off half their strongest ANBU?"

"What are you saying?" Kakashi whispered.

"Modoka Sazumi," Tsunade said, "That is who your student really is."

"That's impossible," Kakashi said, "She would have been ten at the time of-"

"I assure you it is possible, Kakashi," Tsunade said coldly, "Now that you understand the amount of work I have to do, leave."

Kakashi turned on his heel and left, feeling numb.

**A/N: Before I get anyone saying that Sasuke is way OOC, he's delirious. He has no idea what's going on because he lost a lot of blood. Yes, Orochimaru is dead. Sorry, but it had to be done. Also, I'm not going to be home a lot this summer, so this might be the last update in a while. Next chapter you'll find out what the name 'Modoka Sazumi' means to the Kakashi and Naruto's fate. Please keep reviewing!**


	17. Shut in, Cast out

Chapter Sixteen-

**Tsunade let her head fall onto one of the large piles of papers that lay all over her desk.**

_"Goddammit," _she thought, _"Why me? Why the hell couldn't they have picked someone else to deal with this mess?"_

She gritted her teeth and with a lot of effort, raised her head from its previous position and rubbed her eyes. Tsunade was tired. Oh, yes, she was very tired. She felt like the office and the desk she sat at was her prison. Three months ago she would have never believed that this was happening.

When Jiraiya had first found her, though she would never admit it, she was happy to see him. She, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, she thought with a wince, had never been particularly close and after Orochimaru left, they had moved even more apart. She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. Tsunade hadn't wanted to think about Orochimaru ever since he left. It was funny because even before he became a traitor she hadn't liked him. As a child Orochimaru was nothing short of creepy. He dressed strangely and had a weird way of talking. Nobody really liked him and Tsunade remembered that a lot of the students at the Academy were afraid of him. Needless to say, at first Tsunade was not at all happy to be assigned on the same team as Orochimaru the creep and Jiraiya the…whatever he was. It wasn't like they couldn't work with each other…after a while, but it was more that they had never seemed to care about one another. It wasn't until Orochimaru was exposed to be a traitor that Tsunade had actually realized that she would have cared if they disappeared. This apathy could have come the deaths of- Tsunade cut off that thought skillfully. After all she did have years of practice.

Tsunade wasn't sure what to think of Orochimaru now. For so long she had simply refused to think of him and distracted herself by gambling and drinking. Three months ago when Orochimaru approached her about healing his useless arms she had been furious. She thought she hated him and wanted to kill him. But now that he was actually dead…she didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to think of Jiraiya either. She had been so mad at him for finding her and guilt tripping and blackmailing her until she finally agreed to became Hokage. Sure, the Council had been at the root of it, but it was still Jiraiya, her old teammate, who had betrayed her.

And to make matters worse it was the Kyuubi kid who had killed her old teammate and now the Council demanded his execution.

"_One day I'm going to slit all their throats,"_ she thought angrily, _"Goddamn Council."_

Personally, Tsunade could care less about the brat. However, she had a reason she didn't want him to be executed. It basically summed up to the fact that it would make the Council furious. Tsunade knew that this wasn't the first time the Council had petitioned for the jinchuuriki's death. However, it was the first time that the _entire_ Council had agreed on the issue. Technically, united, they had more power that she did, but Tsunade wasn't going to let the issue go. Nuh uh, no way.

"Hey, Shizune," she yelled, "Get me a bottle of sake!"

She cleared a space on her desk and began to outline her plan. Oooh, the Council was going to pay for messing with her. Time to pull out the big guns.

Tsunade didn't even want to _start_ to think about the Modoka Sazumi/Yamaki Sasumi ordeal yet.

**To put it nicely**, Naruto felt like crap. His head was pounding and there was a disgusting taste in his mouth. He was lying on something hard that was definitely not his bed, but he couldn't see properly because there was something really bright in his eyes. He frowned and looked down at his clothes. What the hell? His orange jacket and pants were gone and instead he was wearing some weird white yukata. Naruto felt himself go red. W-Wait someone had _undressed _him?! Naruto shuddered. Ewww…oh, never mind, he was still wearing his boxers. Okay. That was good. He tried to move his hands and raise himself up, but something was restraining him. He looked down and saw handcuffs. 

"What the hell?" he muttered pulling at them.

He struggled more, but he couldn't get loose. Naruto looked up at his surroundings and saw that he had been lying on a stone floor in the middle of an empty room. There were bars on the window that was streaming in sunlight. He looked around and saw a huge, heavy, wooden door on the other end. With difficulty, Naruto pushed himself up, only to fall down again when he tried to take a step. He looked down to see his feet chained together.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, "What the hell is going on here?"

Silence.

"Hey!! Anybody there?!"

Nothing.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto dragged himself towards the door and managed to get himself into a standing position. He banged his cuffed hands against the door.

"Oi, let me out of here!! Hey, is there anybody there? Hey!"

Still nothing.

"Assholes! Bastards! Let me out!!!"

After half an hour of yelling and pounding on the door, Naruto was becoming tired. He slumped against the door and stared dejectedly at the floor. He didn't understand what was going on. The last thing he remembered was that Sasumi had been stabbed by the cross dressing bastard Orochimaru. And that was it. Fear gripped Naruto; what if Sasumi was dead? What happened to Sasuke? Why was he locked up? Had Orochimaru kidnapped him or something? There was only one way to find out. Naruto half hopped half crawled over to the window and then stopped. Okay, not fair. Really. He was going to _kill_ whoever decided to make him short. Crap, he was going to have to jump. Naruto bent his knees slightly and sprung upward. He caught a glimpse if something brown and green but he couldn't make out what it was. Wait, he should have done this from the beginning! Naruto cursed himself for being an idiot. All he had to do was use his chakra to break the handcuffs and then he could kick down the door with his awesome powers and become Hokage!!! …Though something told Naruto that he should probably focus on the first two for now.

Naruto took and deep breath and focused his chakra on his wrists. To his surprise the handcuffs did not break off, but instead glowed red and burned him.

"OWW!!" Naruto yelled waving his hands back and forth in an effort to cool them down, "What the hell was that?"

He tried to break his handcuffs again and then the manacles on his feet to the same effect. Naruto whimpered as he stared down at his burnt ankles and wrists. He was going to murder the person who had sealed his chakra. Or at least that's what Naruto thought the handcuffs were for and he was pretty sure he was right. He tried seeing out the window again and though his ankles were screaming in protest he succeeded.

Wait a second…wasn't that Hokage Mountain? Naruto jumped up again and saw a few people on the cliffs, carving in the Godaime's face. What the hell? But…but that would mean he was in Konoha! Aha! Maybe Orochimaru conquered Konoha and…but why would the workers still be carving in the new Hokage's face onto the mountain? Naruto would have looked again but his ankles were killing him. From what angle he had seen the Mountain it would appear that he was very high up. In a tower or something. Naruto hissed as he sat down and rubbed his throbbing ankles.

Naruto was confused. It just didn't make sense. Why would they lock him up? Naruto searched his mind for anything bad he had done…recently. Sure, he had pulled pranks and stuff but nothing bad enough to get locked up…right? Naruto banged his head against the wall and immediately regretted it. He hadn't done anything bad enough to…unless…Naruto's eyes widened and he felt his stomach go cold. Unless… they had found out about Sasumi and were locking him up for not telling them. Which would mean that Sasuke would have to be around here too. But then again, Naruto frowned, Sasuke had been really hurt. So maybe he was in the hospital. Yes that would make sense. Well, Naruto would just have to explain to everyone that Sasumi wasn't a bad person and that the Rain nin were the ones who were the bad people and then they'd let him go. Perfect. Now if only that would work…

Naruto groaned. All this thinking was making his head hurt. Not to mention he was really hungry. How long had he been here anyway?

"Hey, I'm kinda hungry so would you mind letting me out now?"

Silence.

"Assholes," he muttered.

Hours went by, but nobody came. Sometimes Naruto thought he heard someone talking, but he could never be sure. Night came and Naruto drifted off into a restless sleep, hunger eating away at his stomach. He had a strange dream that night. Or maybe it wasn't a dream. He was talking to that bastard fox in his stomach again, but he couldn't remember what the conversation was about.

When he woke the next morning Naruto wasn't hungry anymore, instead he felt like his mouth was on fire. He had always taken water for granted, but now he was seriously regretting that. He tried to swallow and clear his dry throat, but his actions only caused his throat to hurt more. Naruto pulled himself to his feet and to his horror found that he felt dizzy and weak. He slumped against the wall and looked around the room, hoping for water. Nothing.

"Shit," Naruto croaked, "I'm not going-" his shoulders shook as he coughed loudly, "-to die here."

He tried calling for help, but his throat hurt so bad he could hardly talk, much less yell. Naruto sat against the wall in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. He found it hard to think about anything and just stared at the sun go up and down through his barred window. He wasn't even sure he slept. Or maybe it was all a dream and he wasn't even awake in the first place.

"_This is not good," _was one of his last thoughts before he slipped into a unconsciousness.

**Hyuuga Hinata was practicing her taijutsu when she first felt it. **That terrifying chakra. For some reason it reminded her of something but she couldn't think of what. Next thing she knew there were alarms going off all over Konoha and an ANBU member came and escorted her back to the 'safety of the village' as he called it. She had asked what was going on, but he refused to tell her. There was talk of monsters and Orochimaru and an entire boatload of things Hinata didn't understand. All the adults, even ones who weren't shinobi, seemed to know what was going on, but none of her classmates were told anything. Not even Neji-ni-san who was a Chuunin. She also became aware that Naruto-kun's team was missing. When she asked if they were involved, the Jounin gave her a long look and then turned away and nodded. Hinata was immediately concerned. What if something had happened to Naruto-kun? What if he was hurt? She felt a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach and swallowed nervously. Later they were told that they could all go home and that the crisis was over. But still no one would tell her what this 'crisis' was and Hinata knew better than to ask her father or any other of her relatives. She had gone to sleep that night frustrated and wishing that people would stop treating her like she was weak and useless. She wasn't the old Hinata anymore. She was different now. She just wanted to know what had happened to Naruto-kun. Was that such a crime? Three days later Hinata got her wish.

Hinata stared at the messenger's back as he departed. She suddenly felt faint and her legs crumpled under her as she fell to her knees.

"Who's Uzumaki Naruto?" Hanabi asked.

No one answered her.

"Hey!" Hanabi said, annoyed.

"That's the reason," her father said wearily, "I told you to stay away from the boy."

Hinata still couldn't move. That was impossible. There was no way that Naruto-kun could be…a monster. No, he couldn't be! It was all a lie! The Kyuubi had been killed, hadn't it? That's what she had been taught. That the Yondaime had sacrificed his life for the village and killed the demon fox. It had to be true-

"_Everything you've ever known about him is a lie."_

Hinata bit her lip and unconsciously shook her head back and forth. Naruto-kun wasn't like that! He wasn't a monster! He was a goodhearted, kind, albeit a bit slow. But all same he was the nicest boy Hinata had ever met. Sometimes when Hinata was depressed and felt useless and lonely, she would see him and inspire her to be better. And now she was just supposed to believe that he was a monster? But wait, what had the messenger said? He had said the Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto-kun's body. So that meant that the Naruto-kun wasn't a bad person at all! It wasn't his fault that the Kyuubi was sealed inside him. Hinata felt a weight lifted off her shoulders, but it immediately returned as she remembered the next part of the message.

"_The execution date is being set as we speak," the messenger said smugly, "All the Council has to do is to go through the trial."_

Oh, gods, they were going to kill him!Ho-How could they do that! Naruto-kun was just a boy! Hinata didn't care if he was 'too dangerous' or whatever the messenger had said. They couldn't just kill him…right?

"Onee-san are you okay?"

Hinata looked up at Hanabi's curious eyes and smiled weakly.

"I-I'm fine, I-I think I just need to lie down," she said and left before anyone could admonish her for her 'weakness.'

She slid the door shut of her empty room behind her and dropped to her knees again. Hinata felt her throat tighten and her eyes burn in a familiar way. No! She wasn't going to cry! Her hands fisted the fine tatami and she fought back her tears. After the feeling had passed, she stood up to open the cupboards and take out her futon, but she changed her mind. She wasn't going to just lay in bed and cry. She had to do something! Hinata immediately changed out of her silk kimono and into her ninja gear and then snuck out of her room. As quietly as she could, Hinata slid the door shut and tip toed out of one of the side exits that no _real_ member of the Main House of the Hyuuga clan would ever dream of using. There was nobody in the garden and to her disgust she realized they were all probably inside discussing this new development. This reminded her of something. While the Kyuubi had apparently took control over Naruto-kun's body she had been confused to why all the adults had seemed to know what was going on and none of her year mates did. It all made sense now. The adults had all known because it had been thirteen years ago when the Kyuubi had been sealed into Naruto-kun's body. She and the rest of her generation would have been too young to remember or be told what was going on.

It was almost too easy for Hinata to sneak out of the Main House complex. Even though it was twilight and therefore darker, Hinata thought that the _famous_ Hyuuga clan should be able to catch a mere Genin sneaking out. Or maybe they just didn't care enough.

When she passed the Branch House's main building she recalled that the messenger had said that the Sandaime had insisted on keeping Naruto-kun's true identity a secret and had forbid anyone from talking about the Kyuubi. However, in light of _certain_ events and the fact that the Sandaime was dead, the Council felt it was necessary for everyone in Konoha to know. She wondered if Neji-ni-san knew yet. What would the rest of them think anyway? Would they accept Naruto-kun as the kind person that he was or would they shun him and hate him? Hinata couldn't bear the thought of Naruto's teammates, or anyone else for that matter, hating him. She shook such dark thoughts out of her head and concentrated on her goal. If she was to help him in any way at all, first, she would need information. She needed to fill in some gaps and she wasn't sure she could trust everything the messenger had said anyway. There was only one person Hinata trusted and was comfortable with to ask. She carefully counted the apartment numbers until she came to the apartment that she had visited countless times. She heard the low tones of people talking and hesitated briefly. Hinata strengthened her resolve and thought of Naruto-kun. Whatever they were talking about would have to wait. This was much more important. Hinata raised her hand and knocked resolutely on the door. The voices inside paused for a second and then she heard footsteps approaching. The doorknob turned and the door was pulled open an inch and then all the way.

"Ku-Kurenai-sensei, I'm sorry if th-this is a bad time, but I just heard ab-about-" Hinata started but her teacher cut her off.

"Don't worry, Hinata," she said, "Actually we've been expecting you for a while now."

Hinata turned and saw Kiba-kun and Shino-kun seated on Kurenai-sensei's couch looking extremely serious.

"Come on in, Hinata," her teacher told her in a low voice, "We were just getting started, through you'll have to keep your voice down."

Hinata nodded and stepped into the room.

**Buzzing. **There was a strange buzzing noise. And then another noise, this time a beeping noise. God, it was annoying! Sasuke opened his eyes angrily at being wakened. He blinked as he realized that the buzzing and beeping noises wasn't his alarm clock and that he was in the hospital. Again. Sasuke closed his eyes and hoped that it would just all go away. After a few seconds, he opened them again and found that, unfortunately, he was in the hospital. For the third time in six months. Goddammit, he hated this hospital. He had not only hated it ever since he woke up here as a child after Itachi had murdered his parents, but also because the nurses would not leave him alone. No, really, _last_ time he was here with Naruto they all swarmed him and … said…embarrassing…things, yeah. Sasuke conveniently forgot that _saying_ things wasn't all they did.

Sasuke looked to his left and saw the machine that was making all annoying noises. He glared at it as if to say: "If you don't shut up, I'm going to throw a shuriken at you." Sasuke turned away and attempted to sit up to better see his surroundings, but his chest gave an unexpected spasm and Sasuke cried out before he could stop himself. Sasuke laid back breathing heavily. What the hell?

"Sasuke? Are you okay?"

Sasuke tore his eyes away from the bandages wrapped all the way down his torso he had just noticed and looked up to see Kakashi and a nurse. Despite the situation Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Evil nurses.

"What the hell happened?" Sasuke said grumpily, ignoring the nurse who was looking at him concernedly.

"Are you alright, Uchiha-san?" she asked and put her hand on his arm.

Sasuke twitched, "Fine," he said through gritted teeth, fighting off the urge to yank his arm away and/or yell at her to go away.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Kakashi noticed Sasuke's discomfort and told the nurse that he would like to speak privately with his student. The nurse looked devastated, but thankfully left.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at Sasuke who was extremely annoyed that he couldn't sit up.

"Don't look at me like that," Sasuke hissed.

"You seem to have a talent for getting yourself in the hospital don't you?" Kakashi said, obviously amused.

Sasuke glared at him, "What. Happened."

"You forgot again?"

"Kakashi!!" Sasuke said threateningly.

"Fine, fine, don't be so impatient."

Sasuke glared at him. Arrogant bastard. He wracked his brain trying to remember and then, like a lightning bolt, he remembered.

"Shit! Where's Sasumi! And Naruto!" Sasuke hissed in pain as he attempted to sit up again.

"Sasuke, don't move," Kakashi said, sounding more serious, "You'll irritate your wounds more. Tell me what happened."

"Where are they?" Sasuke hissed angrily.

"What happened?" Kakashi said softly.

Sasuke glared angrily through he knew it didn't look impressive from a hospital bed.

"Orochimaru came," Sasuke said gruffly, avoiding Kakashi's eyes, "Wanted me to join him. I refused, we got into a fight, Naruto and Sasumi showed up, Orochimaru took out Sasumi, Naruto…Naruto turned into some _monster_ and then I don't remember after that."

Talking about Naruto made Sasuke strain to remember the thing he had turned into. What was that anyway? And more importantly, where were they?

Kakashi sighed audibly, "That sounds about right," he said, more to himself than to Sasuke, "To tell the truth, Sasuke, I don't know where either of them are."

Sasuke's eyes widened, "WHAT!!"

"Keep your voice down," Kakashi told him.

Sasuke squirmed uncomfortably on the bed wanting to sit up, "They're not…" he trailed off.

"I'm pretty sure they're alive, however, I haven't been allowed to see them."

"Why?"

Kakashi sighed again, "I didn't really want to be the one to tell you this, but it seems that both your teammates have been deceiving you."

**A/N: Another chapter! Yay! This fic is getting really long, isn't it?** **Some people were commenting about how Tsunade seemed really mean, and I hope this chapter cleared it up. Tsunade's mad because, one, she doesn't want to be the Hokage in the first place, and two, suddenly she has all this work about Naruto, Sasumi, and Orochimaru to do. **

**I'm going to be gone for the next four weeks on holiday so I won't be posting anytime soon. Review and please don't kill me? Also, in my profile there's a section called Fic Status. Since I practically live on this site, you can see how close I am to updating. The title of this chapter refers to that while Naruto and Sasumi are 'shut in,' the truth about them is laid bare. Thanks to my awesome beta this is readable. **


	18. The Point of No Return

Chapter Seventeen-

**It was dark when she woke up. **And very cold. Sasumi tried to open her eyes, but darkness was the only thing that greeted her. She tried to move her hands and feet, but they were restrained by something metal. Chains and handcuffs. There was a piece of cloth tied around her head, covering her eyes and Sasumi could tell she wasn't wearing she bandages around her arms or any of her usual clothes either. She reached down and felt what she was wearing. A worn yukata maybe. It was probably white. Sasumi started to shake.

"No," she whispered, "No…"

With a sudden movement, like her body was out of her control, she tried to yank her hands free. The manacles burned her wrists and she let out a tiny cry. She gave her legs a jerk to the same result. The metal of her manacles clanked together as she shook, but Sasumi wasn't paying attention to that.

"Don't," she said hoarsely, "Don't! Let me out!"

She struggled again and this time couldn't hold back the scream as she was burned again. The smell of burning flesh filled the room, but Sasumi didn't care. All she knew was that she had to get out.

She fell to the ground, shaking, her limbs throbbing. She cured herself into the fetal position and closed her eyes tight.

"Please…Please let me out!" she whispered, "Please!"

It had all been a dream; Konoha, Naruto, Sasuke, Hanada-san, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Ino…She had just been deluding herself, trying to escape in anyway she could. None of it had ever been real, she had just been dreaming or maybe she had finally cracked and had gone mad. She was still there. Nothing had changed in the last three years. She had always been here and didn't know it. The Rain had still got her. She was still locked up. She was still trapped. They would be coming soon too, Sasumi knew. Coming with their pills and hot pokers and needles. With fire and fists. And they would break her bones and burn her flesh forever or until she told them a secret she didn't know.

She curled her manacled hands into her hair and lay on the hard stone floor, for a long time. Sasumi was barely aware that she whispering under her breath or that she was shaking so badly that an eerie clanking noise echoed around the room.

Sasumi wasn't sure how long she lay curled up in a ball on the floor. But then, all of the sudden, she heard a noise. Her hands tightened on her hair and she began to shake even harder. They were here.

She heard three clinks of locks and there was a creak of a large door being opened. Fear coursed threw her and she gripped the stone floor tightly, unaware that her fingernails had broken and were bleeding.

"Hey, do we just stick the food here then?"

"You idiot, don't get so close!"

"C'mon she can't be older than fourteen and she's chained up, gimme a break."

"Jus-Just put the food down and let's go. I don't like being this far down."

"Oh, don't be a wimp."

"Shut up!"

"Hey, be careful you moron! You're going to spill it! …Holy crap, is she dead?"

"No, you idiot, she's moving, can't you see. Let's get out of here now."

"Fine, fine."

There was a clanking noise in front of her face and them she heard footsteps and then the door shut. It was only when she heard the three locks click shut when she was able to breathe again. They were gone. For now.

Sasumi didn't touch the food nor go anywhere near it. It was probably loaded with drugs and she wasn't stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.

**Tsunade raised an eyebrow.**

"Hmmm," she said, interested all of the sudden.

The most remarkable situation had been brought to her attention. The Hokage's office was crowded with people most of them about the age of the Kyuubi brat. There were all very serious and determined looking which made Tsunade wonder what exactly this holder of the Kyuubi was like.

"Is what they told us true?" said a girl with shoulder length blonde hair, angrily, "That they're going to execute Naruto?!"

"Ino!" a boy with a brown ponytail said, looking annoyed.

She ignored him and continued, "What the hell has he done, anyway?"

"It's not my decision," Tsunade told them sternly, testing them, "The Council decided that he was too dangerous to be left alive."

Those words caused the entire group and a man that she vaguely remember as a teacher in the academy looked horrified.

"Wait, you mean you can't do anything!?" said a boy with a dog sitting on his head, loudly, "Aren't you the Hokage or some shit like that?"

"Ki-Kiba-kun!" a shy girl who Tsunade was pretty sure was a Hyuuga said softly.

A boy with long hair who appeared to be related to the girl spoke up, "As the Hokage, do you not have control over the Council?"

"Usually," Tsunade replied, getting tired of explaining this to people, "but in this case, the entire Council has demanded his execution, and united they overpower me."

"How can this be?" demanded a boy wearing a green jumpsuit that hurt Tsunade's eyes to look at, "Why would the Council wish Naruto-kun dead?"

Tsunade sighed. She really didn't know how to go about with this. It would be very hard to explain to them what being the holder of the Kyuubi meant to the people who remembered the attack. She had not been there at the time it was sealed into the boy, however, she had confronted the Kyuubi once in here life before and it wasn't a pleasant experience. It would be best, she decided, to tell them bluntly.

"They're basically confusing the kid with the Kyuubi. They're afraid of him, you see."

This statement was met with silence. The younger generation look confused, however their teachers would understand. As she surveyed the throng of people in front of them, she was surprised to see that Hatake Kakashi was not there. Surely they would have told him that they were coming to see her. Or perhaps Kakashi had given up hope.

"Is there no way," said a tall boy wearing sunglasses, "that this can be prevented?"

Suddenly, quite out of the blue, Tsunade smelt opportunity.

"Well," she said slowly, dumbfounded by her brainchild, "There is still a trial. And if, let us say, several of you were to speak and convince the even one member of the Council that this Uzumaki Naruto is not the Kyuubi. Then I could overpower them and reject their proposal of execution."

There was silence as they processed this information.

"What's in this for you?" the brown haired boy with a pony tail asked her suspiciously.

"One word," she told them, ushering them out of here office, "Payback."

"**What do you mean?** Sasuke said.

"Just what I said," Kakashi said, pulling up a chair.

"That both my teammates have been deceiving me? What are you talking about? Where are they?" he said gritting his teeth.

"Just listen," Kakashi said pushing back his gray hair with one hand, "Naruto…well, Naruto's always been different."

Sasuke stared at him, "What does that have to do with it?" he asked, but in the back of his mind he remembered Naruto and Naruto turning into that _thing_. And that maybe Naruto being _different_ had something to do with it.

"Do you know the story of the Yondaime and the Kyuubi?" Kakashi asked suddenly, ignoring Sasuke's question.

"Yes," Sasuke said, uncertain of where this was going.

Kakashi looked at him expectantly.

"'The Kyuubi attacked Konoha about thirteen years ago,'" Sasuke recited, wondering if Kakashi was aware that all kids his age had practically grown up on the story, "'And the Yondaime sacrificed his own life by killing the Kyuubi to protect Konoha.' Now what does this have to do with Naruto?" he snapped, worry and exhaustion getting to him.

"You see," Kakashi said quietly and Sasuke noticed he looked almost sad, "That story is a lie."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. This was not what he was expecting.

"Yes, the Yondaime did fight the Kyuubi and he did die for the village, but he did not kill the Kyuubi. He couldn't. Instead, he was forced to seal it inside a newborn baby."

Sasuke stared, "What?" he heard himself say, but he really wasn't focusing on that.

In his head he was remembering a year and a half ago when he had seen Naruto's birthday and then remembered the remembrance day on October 8th for the people whom the Kyuubi had killed. October 8th. Thirteen years ago, October 8th. Naruto's birth date.

Oh no. That was impossible. Naruto couldn't be the holder of the Kyuubi. Naruto wasn't a monster. But then he remember the word painted on Naruto's apartment walls and door. The whispers of the villagers when ever they saw Naruto. The _thing_ Naruto had become. Monster, monster, monster.

"You're saying," Sasuke finally said hoarsely, barely aware that Kakashi was scrutinizing him closely, "That _Naruto_ is the holder of the…of the…" but he couldn't say it.

It was preposterous. How could Naruto, of all people have a monster inside him? It was absurd. It…all made so much sense. He remembered how terrified Naruto had been when they discovered that Sasumi had read their memories. 'It's fine' Sasumi had told him, but she had refused to tell Sasuke what she meant. He understood now. She was protecting him. But why, he thought, suddenly angry, had they not told him! Didn't he deserve to know? Naruto was his teammate and yet they had both kept it from him! Did they not trust him? But a small voice in the back of his head, said that maybe, maybe Naruto was afraid that Sasuke would hate him, just like almost the entire world did and Sasuke abruptly felt ashamed of being angry with him.

"Oh," he said, looking up at Kakashi, "Right."

Sasuke couldn't believe this was happening. He didn't know what to feel anymore and he was so confused and just wanted to sleep.

"There's more," Kakashi said wearily, "The Council of Konoha has deemed Naruto too dangerous and are putting him on trial. They mean to execute him."

Sasuke felt his blood run cold, "WHAT!"

"It's true."

"The-They can't do that," Sasuke said, horrified, "…Can they?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, "They can."

Sasuke's body acted without consulting his mind. He wrenched aside the bedclothes and pulled himself into a seated position, hissing in pain.

"Sasuke, lie down!" Kakashi said angrily grabbing him by the shoulders, "There's nothing you can do right now!"

But Sasuke was past listening, "Let me go!" he hissed, trying to pull himself out of Kakashi's grip, "There is no way I'm letting that stupid moron, get himself kill-"

But Kakashi was much stronger than he was and didn't have a gaping wound in his chest. He eventually forced Sasuke back into bed.

"You-"

"Listen to me," Kakashi said, looking, for the first time, angry, "There's going to be a trial in a few days. They can't do anything to him now and you're in no shape to be moving."

"But-"

"And you still haven't heard the second part."

Sasuke froze. He had completely forgotten about Sasumi. He looked at Kakashi, suddenly suspicious. Did he know? Had Konoha found out the truth about Sasumi? Fear flooded through him as he realized that both his teammates were gone, one facing death and the other…

"What about Sasumi?" he said, playing dumb.

"Konoha believes that she is a spy from the Rain."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but Kakashi cut him off.

"Three years ago the Rain suffered a terrible loss. Half their most elite ANBU were killed off in a most mysterious way. Konoha heard rumors about these deaths and inquired about them not only because the Rain and the Leaf are allies, but also because the Rain are quite close to the western side of the Fire Country. At first they refused to tell us what happened, but eventually it was admitted that a high security prisoner had escaped killing off half the guards with an unbeatable Kekkai Genkai. The Rain told us four things about this prisoner. The prisoner was female, her name was Modoka Sazumi, she had green eyes, and her hair was red. They did not give Konoha an age. Which was why Sasumi was never questioned because she would have been ten at the time and Konoha wouldn't have thought of her as a threat.

A few days ago, Sasumi was found with scars all over her body. The Rain, you see, are the only people who still use physical torture. There is also no record of her until almost three years ago giving her plenty of time to sneak into Konoha."

"If she was a prisoner," Sasuke said carefully, "then why do you think she's a spy?"

"Konoha's Council believes that the Rain was lying about the fact that the prisoner escaped. They believe Sasumi was tortured into doing the Rain's bidding. She would be the perfect spy, because hardly anyone suspects a child."

"Is it so hard to believe," Sasuke asked, "that she didn't really escape and come here?"

Kakashi frowned and looked at him intently, "You don't seem very surprised about all of this."

Sasuke looked down, "I always knew there was something different about her," he says unconvincingly, aware that Kakashi is looking at him suspiciously.

"Right…"

"When is Naruto's trial?" he asked, diverting Kakashi's attention.

"In four days," Kakashi answered. A pause, "The entire village is invited."

Sasuke felt rage at the Council burning inside of him. How dare they make this public! He didn't want to see the look on Naruto's face when the entire village showed up. Sasuke briefly remembered the time in the square when a woman had slapped Naruto in the face. Determination filled him. There was no way the Council would execute Naruto. He would become a traitor if he had to, but Sasuke wasn't just going to let them kill his teammate. Or let them send Sasumi back to the Rain, he added, remembering the disgusting scars and burns on her arms.

"How long will this take to heal?" he asked, gesturing at his chest.

Kakashi looked faintly surprised at his change in demeanor, "By itself? Months at least. The hospital has been trying to get the Godaime to come down and help out, but she's been so busy."

"I need to be healed before four days is up," Sasuke said, his hands curling into fists.

If it were any other circumstance, Kakashi would have reprimanded him or told him to be patient. However, he simply nodded and left the room. Only then Sasuke let his head fall back onto the pillows. He had to sleep now, because when he woke up he would have a lot of planning to do.

**Shizune was buying more tea for Tsunade-sama when she heard it. **It came from two ninja who were wearing the special uniform that signified they worked in the Main Council Building.

"What do you mean the Kyuubi brat hasn't moved in a few days?"

"Be quiet! Don't announce it to the whole world!"

Shizune moved closer to the pair, pretending to look through the selection of dried fish.

"Listen, you know the guy who's in charge of feeding him? I've heard a rumor that his sister or something was killed by the Kyuubi."

"Oh, great, so he wants revenge or something? Doesn't he know that he'll get in trouble if the kid dies? He should just wait like the rest of us until he gets executed."

"And we'll get in trouble too. Goddammit!"

"So what the hell are we supposed t-"

Shizune didn't need to hear the rest. She thrust the can of tea on a random shelf and ran out of the store. Tsunade-sama needed to hear this. She ran through the busy market place, pushing people aside, ignoring their annoyed yells. Once she got to a less crowded street, she ran up a wall of a nearby building and leapt quickly from roof to roof. Reaching her destination in a matter of minutes, Shizune burst through the Hokage's office's double doors, panting heavily.

"Tsunade-sama!!"

"Did you get my tea?" Tsunade-sama asked irritably, not even looking up from a stack of papers she was looking through.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune cried, "Something's…bad…the Uzumaki child…"

It took several minutes for her to gasp out what she had just heard and by the time she was done Tsunade-sama's face was contorted with anger.

"Those bastards…!" she muttered under her breath.

Tsunade-sama stood up, letting papers fall to the floor. She grabbed the Hokage's robe and hat, which Shizune knew she hated to wear.

"C'mon," she told her, putting the garments on quickly, "Let's go. I'll teach them to defy me…"

Shizune stood up and followed her angry sensei out of room. Tsunade-sama called out orders as they walked down the hallways.

"Genma! Raidou! Alert the hospital that I'll being bringing in the Kyuubi kid in about ten minutes! He'll need fluids!"

"But Hokage-sama-"

"Don't argue with me! Go!"

"Ri-Right!"

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune panted, trying to keep up with her Hokage, "What if he's de-"

"Not now, Shizune," Tsunade-sama said, cutting her off effectively.

They leapt from building to building, ignoring the villager's cries of surprise.

They reached the Main Council Building quickly, terrifying the two guards that stood at the door.

"Ho-Hokage-sama! What are you-"

"Let me in," Tsunade-sama said calmly.

"With all respect, Hokage-sama, this building is under Council jurisdicti-"

"Move aside," Tsunade-sama said, moving forward.

Dazed, the two guards let her pass and a good thing too, because people were beginning to gather, whispering and pointing. Tsunade-sama wrenched open the door and walked confidently down the halls. She walked right up to a young woman sitting at a desk.

"Which cell is Uzumaki Naruto in?"

"Hokage-sama! What are you-"

"Where is he?"

"I-I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I'm not allowed to give that information out."

"As your Hokage, I'm ordering you to tell me."

The woman looked conflicted and briefly Shizune felt bad for her.

She looked around the empty hallway and leaned forward, "Cell 227 on floor 23. But don't tell them I told you!"

Tsunade-sama turned around and headed for the stairs. And so they climbed. Tsunade-sama had a strange closed look on her face, that puzzled Shizune. By the time they reached the twenty-third floor, Shizune felt lightheaded and her legs were killing her. Tsunade-sama strode down the narrow corridor with more confidence than Shizune thought was normal for this kind of situation.

"Halt," called a voice from behind them.

Shizune's head swirled around to see four guards.

"Y-You're not allowed to be here," called a woman with dirty blond hair.

Apparently they had been informed previously that they were coming.

"Give me the keys to cell 227," Tsunade-sama said firmly.

"Ho-Hokage-sama! I'm must ask you to leave!"

"Give me those keys."

The four ninja drew their kunai and Shizune reacted without thinking. Quickly, she kicked the woman out of the way and slammed her head against the wall. She turned around too see the other three shinobi unconscious behind her, Tsunade-sama standing in-between them.

"Let's go," she said.

Shizune reached down and pulled a bunch of keys from around the woman's waist and found one marked 227. They stepped over the bodies and walked to the end the hallway. Shizune found the door marked 227 seven unlocked the door. With a tug, she pulled the heavy wooden door open. To her surprise the room was bright and she shielded her eyes as they both entered. There was a window which was streaming in sunlight and Shizune surveyed the room carefully. The only thing in the room was a blonde haired boy in a white prisoner's garb lying the stone floor. Beside her Tsunade-sama went rigid.

"Nawaki…?"

Shizune froze, "Tsunade-sama, are you alrigh-"

"Yes, I'm sorry. For a second I thought…" she paused and Shizune looked at her carefully.

She had never seen Tsunade-sama like this before.

"…Never mind," she finished.

But Tsunade-sama approached the boy and gently lifted up his head and checked his pulse. She pulled open his yukata and pressed her head to his bare chest. Nodding to herself, she lifted her head, closed the yukata and picked him up carefully. Shizune could not help but stare. She had never seen Tsunade-sama so gentle with anyone before. The name 'Nawaki' she knew was the name of Tsunade-sama's younger brother. Perhaps Uzumaki Naruto looked like him…?

Tsunade-sama suddenly stiffened, "We've got to leave," she said, "Now."

Shizune followed her quickly out of the room and closed the door shut behind her. She jogged to catch up with Tsunade-sama who had already reached the stairwell. They ran as fast as they could downstairs and into the lobby. Shizune let the door close and almost ran into Tsunade-sama who had frozen. She looked up to see a man wearing glasses and a woman with several hair pins in her hair.

"Tsunade! How dare you barge in here!"

"Homura, Koharu."

Shizune's eyes widened. Weren't they senior Council members?

"Tsunade, what on earth are you doing. That _thing_ is dangerous! He was locked up for a reason! You have no right t-"

"No," Tsunade-sama said calmly, "It was you who had no right. If I had come any later he might have died."

"That would have not been such a tragedy, Tsunade-hime."

Shizune looked to her left to see a tall man with bandages wrapped around his face and arm.

"Danzou…" Tsunade-sama said in a low voice, her face twisted in dislike.

"Put him down now, Tsunade, or we will press charges!" the man with the black glasses said, looking at the boy like he was a poisonous spider.

Then Tsunade-sama did something that Shizune had not seen in a long time. She laughed.

"Press charges?" she repeated, "_Press charges!_ If anyone, it will be me who presses charges!"

And before they could say anything, Tsunade-sama grabbed her hand and in a puff of smoke, they disappeared.

**A/N: I'm back! Wow, it seems like forever since I've been home! This chapter did not come out how I though it would. In fact, I made up the whole Shizune and Tsunade take on the Council on the spot. I know I'm making the Council all evil and everything, but it had to be done. Besides, they're more scared of Naruto than anything. So yeah, review, be nice, and I promise the next chapter won't take so long to come out.**


	19. Realizations

Chapter Eighteen-

**Pressed up against the corner of her prison**, Sasumi wondered when the dream had first started. Or maybe she had just died. None of it made sense anymore and Sasumi couldn't think, not with her wrists and ankles chained together and the smell of rotting food and urine permeated the room. They had come five times since she had awoken; only leaving food and water which was most assuredly poisoned. She had managed to drag herself to one corner of the room, but lack of water was taking its toll. It was hard to keep her eyes open, even though there was no point because of the blindfold, and her limbs felt like lead. Sasumi was no stranger to starvation and she knew that she was dying. Before they had always made sure she stayed alive, but now they seemed to no longer care. Or they were overestimating her will to live, but she doubted it. It wasn't worth eating to only feel those horrible sensations of untested drugs wrack her body.  
It was strange, how apathetic she was to the concept of Death. Humans in general were terrified of it and did everything they could to delay its inevitable approach. But Sasumi was all too familiar with Death. She had wanted to die countless times, and she had killed countless times. Now, she was merely passive in its face. Death was coming and Sasumi waited patiently.

**Naruto was really getting sick of waking up in unfamiliar places.** At the moment he was too weak to move, however he could see plainly that this was not his room, nor the cell he had been in. Something next to his head was making steady beeping noises and a window to his left was streaming in sunlight. It looked like Naruto was still wearing that stupid yukata though.  
He raised his head slightly and surveyed the room. It looked like a hospital, but not the one in Konoha. Where the hell was he? All he remembered was being locked up and thirsty…oh, that must be it. He'd passed out from lack of water. Well, he wasn't thirsty now, but he sure was hungry. He pushed himself into a seated position and felt something strain on his arm. Naruto looked down and saw a tube stuck in his wrist. He gave an involuntary shiver and put his arm on the tube as to pull it out. What were they doing to him?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Naruto gave a start and looked up to see the Fifth Hokage staring down at him. Oh, shit.

"You almost died from dehydration and that tube is giving your body back fluids that you lost."

Oh…Naruto guessed that made sense…sorta.

"What happened?" he blurted out, unable to keep quiet, "Why was I locked up? Where are my teammates? What happened to that snake bastard? Why are you here?"

Naruto would've said more but he needed to take a breath. After he did he saw she looked amused by his questions. Now that really pissed him off.

"Oi, what the hell is so funn-"

"You don't remember?" she asked.

"Huh?" Naruto said intelligently.

"Orochimaru is dead," she said, "And you killed him."

"What?" Naruto heard himself say.

That was impossible, though Naruto hated to admit it, there was no way someone at his power level could've killed the snake Sannin. He was distracted momentarily as he saw the bottle of sake in her hand.

"Are you drunk?" he asked suspiciously.

Well, she was an old teammate of Ero-Sennin, wasn't she?

A blood vein popped on her forehead.

"Look, you little brat-"

"Aha, you are drunk!" Naruto cried, surprised by how tired his voice sounded.

"Don't accuse your elders of being drunk, brat!"

"Hey, don't call me a brat!"

"I'll call you whatever I like, I'm Hokage!"

"That's not fair! And it's a stupid excuse!"

"I'll give you a stupid excuse, you little-"

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama?"

Naruto looked up to see a woman with short black hair at the doorway looking slightly apprehensive. Naruto swore he had seen her somewhere before.

"What is it, Shizune?" the Godaime asked, gaining her composure more quickly than Naruto would've liked.

"Er…well, I heard raised voices…"

"Her fault!" Naruto interjected.

The woman, 'Shizune' apparently, looked at him confusedly.

"Er…yes, well, you probably should be quieter, these walls aren't that thick."

"I'll take that into consideration," the pigtailed woman said dismissing the Shizune person, "Now, where were we…?"

"Will you tell me what the hell is going on? Where I am and why are you here already? Gods!" Naruto said, annoyed, but then quailed under the look she gave him. "Ehehehehe…umm…"

She silenced him by raising her hand, "Look, I'm only gunna say it once, so listen up. About a week and a half ago Orochimaru, apparently alone, infiltrated the leaf. He attempted to, presumably, kill Uchiha Sasuke-"

That reminded Naruto, "Hey, lady, where is that asshole anyway?" his voice dropped and he whispered, "Sa-Sasuke's okay, isn't he? And what about Sasumi? Tell me!"

"If you keep interrupting me I won't tell you a thing."

Naruto scowled, glaring, but wisely kept his mouth shut. No telling what the crazy lady would do.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted…" she said, sending him a glare, "Orochimaru tried to kill Uchiha Sasuke. You and your…friend apparently got in the way. Your friend was stabbed in the abdomen and directly on one of her ribs bones and passed out. Uchiha Sasuke apparently couldn't move from his injuries. This is when, we assume, it all started."

"What all started? And why aren't you referring to Sasumi by her name?"

She gave him a pitying look.

"The seal on your stomach apparently has eroded over time which caused Kyuubi's chakra to leak through. So much chakra leaked through that you apparently were possessed and preceded to kill Orochimaru."

Naruto stared at her. No way. Sure, he had used the Kyuubi's chakra before but he hadn't been possessed! She must be lying.

"T-That's impossible," he said, still staring at her, "I…I would have remembered it! I couldn't have…"

But maybe her wouldn't have remembered it. There was a great blank in his memory when he tried to remember what happened after Sasumi had been stabbed. He just remembered being angry and then…red. Red like the color of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Naruto suddenly looked down and stared at his own hands. Had he really killed Orochimaru? With these hands?

_"Or claws,"_ a nasty voice in the back of his head reminded him.

"I…I really…killed…"

He couldn't say it. Orochimaru hadn't been a saint and he had done more than enough to Naruto, his teammates, and friends to warrant Naruto's hatred. To tell the truth it really wasn't about Orochimaru, though it certainly helped that in Naruto's view he deserved death. But it was one thing to believe someone deserved death, and another to actually killed them. No, it wasn't about Orochimaru, it was about Naruto. And the fact that Naruto had just…just killed him. Suddenly Naruto felt his stomach heave and he wretched over the side of the bed opposite to where the Godaime was sitting. He coughed out a bit more and stared at the white tiled floor now covered in his sick.

_"Murderer!"_

_"Shut up,"_ Naruto thought fiercely, _"Shut the hell-"_

_  
"Monster!" _

Was he becoming the Kyuubi? Was he taking over Naruto's body? Naruto's stomach heaved again at the thought and he absentmindedly wondered why there was no substance to his throw up. It was clear, like saliva. 

"Get a hold of yourself, you idiot," a voice said irritably from behind him, "You're a shinobi, aren't you?"

He didn't want to look at her. He didn't want her to see his weakness, so her just sat there waiting until his breath slowed down, staring down at the floor.

What had he done? More importantly what was he going to do? He couldn't just stay here. They'd lock him up again. But…maybe he deserved to be locked up. If he was turning into the Kyuubi then he'd be much too dangerous to be around normal people. Normal, innocent people that he could kill. With a sudden motion, Naruto wrapped his arms around himself. No, no, no! He's never let the Kyuubi take over his body! He wouldn't, couldn't, give up. He had a dream to accomplish and there was no way something like the Kyuubi could stop him. But how did you fight something inside of you?

Naruto was scared. Really, really scared. He suddenly wanted someone, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, Sasumi, someone besides this woman who didn't know him and therefore couldn't care. Goddammit, it was stupid and utterly moronic, but he wanted his parents, the people he'd never known and had abandoned him because he was a monster, or so the villagers said.

"Ughh, Goddammit, we're going to need a mop and look at you, kid, you're a mess."

He heard her rise from her chair and walk around the bed to the other side which he was facing. He squeezed his eyes shut and stiffed his shoulders.

"Oh, Dammit, don't be so emotional. If anyone's gunna be emotional it should be me. C'mere."

Naruto stiffed as he felt something soft come in contact with his mouth, but then realized that she was wiping the sick off his mouth. He heard her footsteps walk away from him and stifled the urge to yell out 'don't leave!' He heard a spray of water and then she approached him and felt a hand on his cheek and something hard pressed to his mouth.

"C'mon drink this, kid, you'll feel better."

Naruto quickly took the glass from her hand and looked down as he drank it, not wanting to meet her gaze. He finished the water quickly and let his hand fall to his lap, fiddling nervously with the plastic cup.  
And maybe it was the effect of the water, but to his horror, he felt his eyes beginning to water. He quickly brought up his hand to wipe the tears away, but he couldn't stop the sob that tore itself out of his throat. He hated it. Hated the sound. Weak, weak, sound.

"Oh, no, don't start crying on me. Oh, godamm-…why does this always happen to me?"

She sounded annoyed and it was probably because now Naruto was sobbing full out.  
He didn't remember the last time he had cried like this. After Haku died he had come close, but it was nothing like this. He'd had to have been little, really little.  
The Godaime put her hand on his back and tried to calm him down. And maybe it was helping. Maybe.

**Tsunade was not amused.** She had sat for two days waiting until the kid to wake up and he had been annoying, real annoying and loud. She hated kids like that. Besides Nawaki, of course. And then she had told him what happened he got all weepy and Tsunade had to wonder what drugs the Council was on, thinking a kid like this was dangerous.  
Then, after the kid had sufficiently calmed himself down, he was all happy. What kind of person cries their eyes out after finding out they killed a mass murderer and then starts grinning like crazy? A bipolar person, that's what. Well, she fixed the grinning problem right after she told him about his teammate, the Modoka. The weird thing was he didn't even seem surprised. He just argued with her about how Sasumi was a really nice person. Nice person, right. Granted she had probably only killed her captors to escape, but the little information she had on the girl didn't look promising. For a trial at least. To tell the truth, Tsunade was having enough trouble at the moment with the Council hounding her about her break in at their building, so much that she, Shizune, and the kid, were hiding out in one of the deep underground hideouts from the time of the Great War. She had promised them that she'd escort the kid to his trial, grudgingly of course. She knew as well as they did that the only chance of Uzumaki and herself not becoming missing nin or worse was to go through with the trial. Though it hardly mattered, because Tsunade didn't plan on losing.

"Hey, I'm hungry do you have ramen?"

She shook herself out of her reverie and raised an eyebrow.  
"Ramen? No."

"What?" he whined, "That's not fair!"

"If you ever plan on getting out of bed, you're going to have to eat something healthy."

"Ramen is…sorta healthy…maybe…"

"Ramen is carbohydrates in high-fat vegetable broth. You need protein."

"You can have ramen with meat in it! That counts!"

"Well, it hardly matters, since I don't have it on hand," she said, brushing back a loose strand of hair, "I packed the healthiest and energy supplying foods I could get. It's a miracle you're not dead you know."

"Huh?" he said, perking up at the mention of food.

"You were locked up for seven days without water and you're still alive. No normal human being can survive without water for two days."

He looked slightly troubled by this information, "No…normal human?" he asked, carefully.

Oh no, he was getting emotional again! Quick, distract him!

"That's right," Tsunade said, "Now let's see if you can stomach some food."

"Yay! Ramen?"

Tsunade swore if he weren't half-starved and immobile she would've hit him.  
The next few days passed quickly. If the brat gave any indication of being afraid or nervous about his upcoming trial he was hiding it incredibly well. He was bored of being in bed since day one and seemed to want to go outside immediately. He tried to get out of bed so many times that Tsunade threatened to chain him to the bed which began a long chain of comments that must have originated with Jiraiya. By all rights, she should stick a bar of soap in his mouth to clean it out. But then again, then she would have no one to argue with.

Between stopping the blond from running around the hideout like a maniac, Tsunade had wondered more than once what the hell she was doing. Why was she risking so much for this kid anyway? For all she knew, the Council could be declaring her and the kid traitor right now. Shizune had gone into the village (in disguise, of course) several times to see what was going on, but maybe they planned to ambush her the second she entered the village. She couldn't be sure that Konoha's shinobi would be loyal to her if such a thing did happen. She knew that she certainly wasn't well liked. Tsunade had never been really liked. That was just who she was. She was rude and pushy and impatient and almost like a foreigner to them. She had left the village before half the ANBU were born and the other half to young to remember her.

There were so many things that could wrong and ruin everything. So why do it at all? Sure, being the Hokage wasn't her dream job, but she wouldn't become a traitor to her village to get out of it or save some random kid. It hade to be something more. It had become something more after seeing Uzumaki, sprawled out on the stone floor of a place he had been locked in for days without food or water and without even knowing what he did wrong. It had become something more the second she saw him because he looked exactly like Nawaki. After, seeing him up close, she saw the differences, but still, the resemblance was uncanny. And loud and annoying he might be, but he amused her with his stupid antics and that in itself was something, she guessed.  
In the end, did it really matter if it turned out that she was so intent on saving him because he looked like her dead kid brother? Or did it have to be some other more noble cause? Well, she certainly wouldn't be so motivated to help him if he was an asshole, so maybe part of it had to do with the fact that she was a bit fond of him. Just a bit. Tsunade tried to keep such thoughts out of her mind, but they kept coming back to her just like Shizune irritating her about not drinking and gambling so much. It never ended!  
The other thing was that he was a jinchuuriki. It was strange to think of Uzumaki as a walking prison of a monster. He was just so…happy most of the time that Tsunade knew that none of the kids his age would have ever guessed what he was, if not for the Council's interference, of course.

The Council. What to do about them? The Council was one of the reasons that Konoha had become one of the most successful countries in the world. In other countries where there was no balance of power, one corrupt ruler could ruin a country and cause countless repercussions even after dethroned. In the early days of Konoha's history the Council was a good representative for the people and everything was simple. Why did everything a hundred years ago seem so much simpler? But as time went on, the Council became more and more comprised of wealthy, powerful, and influential citizens with no ninja training or status whatsoever. It wasn't the fact that they weren't ninja that was the problem; it was that the Hokage was and they weren't. Two forces trying to work with each other that thought so differently. Most people didn't know how differently shinobi thought from normal civilians, but the fact remained that shinobi, good shinobi, had a totally different mindset. Sarutobi had a way of compromising and debating with which he was able to get along with the Council easily, but unfortunately Tsunade did not posses that skill. Tsunade, like most ninja, did first and thought about it later. In situations where there was no time to think, you had to trust your gut. However, the Council didn't seem to get that. Even those who once had been ninja had not fought or trained in so long that they had lost the feeling. They were too, though it sounded crass, intellectual. They were not used to making a decision in less than a second and were panicked when they saw their Hokage make a quick choice. The system had more good that bad, Tsunade would give it that, but it's most egregious fault sure caused a lot of problems.

Finally the day came of Uzumaki's trial. They left early in the morning, not wanting to draw a crowd, though Tsunade had a feeling that there would already be a huge one at the trial. The kid was nervous, she could tell. As they walked through the streets he looked straight ahead and ignored the villagers whisper in a way that slightly impressed Tsunade. Though, then again, the poor kid was probably used to it. It was only when they reached the Council's main building when they started to have problems. Tsunade had worn the ceremonial Hokage garb that she secretly hated, hoping it would discourage people from causing a fit, but it apparently wasn't working.

"Monster! Demon!"

"You killed my son, you murderer!"

"Go to hell!"

"Let me through you bastards! I'll kill him for you!"

Uzumaki just kept walking straight ahead, as if he did this everyday. There were annoyed looking guards that were holding back the crowed and the whole scene seemed slightly surreal to Tsunade. What happened to the nice, friendly people of Konoha? It was almost…laughable. And that's exactly what she wanted to do. Laugh at the scene of maybe seventy-five angry people shouting at a thirteen-year-old boy for murdering their families while he was still half in the womb. It wasn't particularity funny really. Well, maybe in a morbid sort of way, maybe. Either way she wanted to laugh her ass off. But instead she bit her lip like she knew Shizune would want her too and continued on down the road remembering the glare at every other person. They were quickly shuffled into the main building by more irritated looking guards. A bunch of workers stood on tiptoes to see them pass and Tsunade thought of making a comment on their work ethic, but decided not to alienate people that could potentially be on their side. They walked down a white hallway and then another. On the way Tsunade saw one of the people she had knocked out several days ago and laughed…a laugh that quickly turned into a cough. They walked until they reached two huge dark brown wooden doors.

"Are you ready?" Tsunade muttered to the orange clad boy beside.

He grinned, "Like hell."

The two doors opened.

**Wet.** Cold. Water running down her back. Hands grabbing her forearms.

"Wake up already, you stupid bitch!"

She coughed, the darkness terrifying her. She couldn't see. She couldn't see! There were hands on her face forcing her mouth open. Sasumi struggled pushing her cuffed arms against the person in front of her and squishing herself even further against the wall.

"God…Dammit! Stop struggling! Do want to die?"

No, no, no! She didn't want their poisoned water or their drugged food! Get it away!

_"Let me go, let me go, let me go!!"_

Every single nerve was intensified to the person grabbing her and it made her want to wretch. The person's grip intensified on her arm and her left arm throbbed with pain. Sasumi gave a surprised cry and tried to kick with her legs, but it resulted in her sliding down the wall, and therefore further away from it.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm just trying to feed you, alright!"

Sasumi wasn't listening. She wasn't stupid and had heard enough of their lies. Evil, evil, lies.

"Gods! Hold still! Oi, c'mere and help me with her! She's insane!"

Another person approached, and she fought harder. She didn't want this. She didn't want to be here! A pair of arms grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away from the wall! Sasumi gave a scream of fury and flailed about, trying desperately to escape. She tried to move her arms, but pain filled her arm and she cried out and went limp.

"Finally, gods, she's strong for a kid who hasn't had food or water for days!"

Clanking noises. Smells of food. Oh, no! Oh, no! Sasumi couldn't move, from fear or the pain in her left arm she didn't know. And hand grasped the back of her neck and pulled her up from the fetal position she had been in on the stone floor. Another pair of hands forced her mouth open and even as Sasumi tried to wrench away she knew it was too late. Liquid filled her mouth and she choked and had no choice but to swallow, food followed and Sasumi wanted to choke. She wanted the food stuck in her windpipe so she could die before she felt any more pain. She was sick of it. Terrified of those chemicals.

"Gods, that wasn't that hard, wasn't it? Just eat next time and we won't have to do this again."

"Don't talk like that, she's a mass murderer, remember? Half the Rain's ANBU ring a bell?"

"Like I could forget."

"Hurry up, will you? The bosses are gonna brief us on the demon's trial."

"The Uzumaki kid? I dunno why, I mean he's just a kid…"

"You're just soft, c'mon"

There was a screeching noise of the heavy door closing leaving Sasumi shivering, curled up within herself. Waiting. Seconds, minutes. No pain.

_"Half the Rain's ANBU…" _

_"…demon's trial." _

_"…Uzumaki kid?"_

The water tasted different. Uzumaki. Demon. Rain's ANBU…

Sasumi's eyes widened. She wasn't in the Rain. She was in Konoha. It hadn't been a dream. But they had found out about her! Would they send her back? But Naruto? On trial…

_"Get up. Get up now!"_

"Let me out," she whispered, "Please!"

**A/N: Woah, long chapter! Yes, I've drawn out this part of the fic long enough so I thought I'd try and finishe the beginning part. The last part of this chapter kind of scared me a bit. I hope it wasn't too creepy. Hopefully, I'll finish Naruto's trial next chapter and then get onto what the Leaf are going to do with Sasumi. My beta, Sleeping Soundly, is made of win and you are too...if you review! Oh, god, it rhymes too...**


	20. And Tribulations

Chapter Nineteen-

**Ino had never been to a trial before. **She had heard about them, of course, but she had never been in the courtroom of the main Council Building. The room was large and circular and thankfully someone had changed the rules and decreed that only ninja would be allowed to attend. She was incredibly glad, especially after she heard what the villagers were yelling. Ino had always known that many people hated Naruto, but she hadn't known it was that bad. Even some of the ninja, who should have known that Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi was inside him, were bitter and wanted him killed. And if Ino hadn't known better she would have given them her opinion on the matter…using her fists.

Ino sat close to Sasuke, secretly finding it incredibly funny how suspiciously he looked at her. He couldn't walk without crutches so people gave him extra room, which was another reason Ino had decided to sit next to him. Sasuke seemed incredibly surprised that suddenly their entire generation knew about Naruto. Right when he had entered the room, Ino had come right up to him and seriously told him what had happened with the Council and all the other things he had missed. Kakashi had been the only one allowed to visit him in the hospital to Ino's annoyance. He had looked the most shocked she had ever seen him when she told him that the rest of them, the remaining Rookie Nine and Neji, Lee, and Tenten's team, had petitioned for Naruto's release and that she hoped he didn't mind that they put his name on it. She also asked him where Sasumi was.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, his eyebrows furrowing.

"What do you mean you don't know?" she asked him incredulously, "You're on the same team!"

"Just what I said," Sasuke replied, rubbing his temples, "She got hurt in the attack…Kakashi and I haven't seen her since."

Ino looked at him in horror. He couldn't mean that-Was Sasumi-

"No, not like that," he said hurriedly, "Kakashi said he's pretty sure that she's alive…but he hasn't been allowed to see her."

Ino frowned, "Why not?" she said angrily, "That's stupid!"

Sasuke blinked and looked confusedly at her.

"Why do you car-" he started, but then Kakashi-sensei appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yo, Sasuke, Ino," he said and promptly pulled out an orange book.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, "You're actually on time," he said in mock awe.

Ino sniggered.

"Hmm…so I am," Kakashi said, not even looking up.

She was prevented from saying anything sarcastic as the double doors at the back of the courtroom opened. Two ANBU emerged followed by the Hokage, who was wearing the traditional garb and then-Sasuke inhaled sharply as Naruto walked through the doors. Ino peeked to her left slightly and saw that Kakashi's dirty book was no where in sight. She looked back to Sasuke and saw him swallow. Ino turned her attention back on the proceedings.

She was too far back to actually make out the expression on Naruto's face, but she could tell that Naruto was much paler than he had been when she last saw him. She noticed that Sasuke's hands had turned into fists and a glance to her left proved that Kakashi-sensei wasn't exactly pleased at the situation either.

To her, Sasuke, and Kakashi's further annoyance, Naruto's hands were handcuffed behind his back and she distinctly heard Akamaru growl. Shikamaru whispered something disparaging under his breath and Neji frowned. As Naruto walked by, the crowd of ninja in the seats whispered and muttered. Naruto completely ignored them and came to stand directly in the center of the room. Now that Naruto was close enough, Ino could see the look on his face. It was a strange blank look that she had never seen on Naruto before. Naruto stood straight and tall and looked defiantly at the Council, who were seated in a separate arrangement of seats in the front of the room.

An old man stood and came up to stand at a podium and cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Uzumaki Naruto," he said in a raspy voice. When Naruto didn't say anything he said, "You are Uzumaki Naruto, are you not?"

A few ninja behind Ino snickered.

"Obviously," Naruto said, now grinning impudently up at the man, "What's your name, ojisan?"

Kakashi coughed into his hand and Sasuke smirked.

The man looked obviously startled and confused.

"That has nothing to do with this case," he said, looking down at Naruto like one might look at a retarded child, "Now, you are charged with the crime of-"

"Well, _that's_ no fun," Naruto said, cutting him off, "You expect me to listen to you if I don't even know you're name?"  
Ino and Sasuke stared at him in horror and amusement. What was he _doing_? Was he trying to get himself killed?

"You will be silent!" the man said, his face turning as red as Sasumi's hair, "This is a court!!"

"Really?" Naruto said, looking around as if shocked, "I never would have guessed!"

Ino was really getting worried for Kiba, who was turning red in his attempts to not laugh aloud. Hinata was shyly patting him on the back, though she was smiling herself.

"You-you!" the man spat, apparently too angry to form his sentences.

But before he could leap off the podium and strangle Naruto a voice rang out.

"Naruto! Behave!" the Hokage said sternly, though if Ino wasn't mistaken, she was smiling slightly.

He frowned. She was supposed to be on Naruto's side, or at least that was what Ino had told him. Then didn't she realize how dangerous this was? If Naruto was going to be rude to the Council then they'd find him 'guilty' for sure!

"Yes, sir!" Naruto said energetically, saluting her, "Uh, I mean, ma'am…"

To Ino's astonishment, the ninja behind him who had just a minute ago been badmouthing the "Kyuubi kid," laughed.

_"So that's what he's doing,"_ Ino thought, _"Well, let's just hope it works."_

The old man cleared his throat again and continued, "You are charged with the crime of killing Konoha's ninja, murdering the Yondaime Hokage, destroying civilian and government property alike and…" the man looked somewhat affronted down at the paper he was reading, "…and vandalizing the Hokage Mountain and the back of the Ninja Academy."

Naruto looked to his sides and then behind him as if searching for the accused person.

Finally, he said, "Me?" pointing to his chest, looking dumfounded.

"There's no one else there," the man said confused by Naruto's antics.

"Hahaha! Sorry, I thought you were talking about someone else!" Naruto said, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly, "Boy, do _I_ feel stupid."

A short wave of laughter rippled through the crowd. Kiba was by far the loudest. Sasuke merely rolled his eyes. Ino bit the inside of her mouth to keep from smiling. Naruto never changed, did he?

"Okay, okay," Naruto said, his eyes rolling skyward, "I admit it. I graffiti-ed the back of the Ninja Academy. But all of that other stuff? Ch, that's bull."

He looked up at the man on the podium expectantly.

The man didn't say anything, but instead looked down at Naruto as if he was crazy.

"Alright, alright," Naruto says, "Fine, be that way. I'll come clean; I vandalized the faces on Hokage Mountain too. But hey, I cleaned them off! That counts, doesn't it?"

The man still didn't say anything.

"What do you want?" Naruto screamed melodramatically, "A signed confession?"

He tugged on his handcuffs, "Wait, never mind. That ain't gonna work. You'll have to take this off first."

Ino bit her lip and glanced at Sasuke who looked like her was considering slamming his head into a wall. She glanced at some of the other ninja around her and smirked. They sure didn't look like they were watching a murder trial. In retrospect, Ino should have known this was going to happen. Naruto was always in his element when people paid attention to him. And the more, the better.

"So," the man at the podium said furiously, "_So_."

"Yes?" Naruto said nodding his head, "You know you really didn't have to repeat that."

"You think you're funny, huh?" the man spat, growing red in the face again.

"Yeah, pretty much," Naruto said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

The man scowled, "So, you think you're innocent?!"

"Basically," Naruto said, "Well, except for all that graffiti-ing stuff."

"How do you explain the deaths, destruction and casualties thirteen years ago?" the man spat.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly got heavier. Ino said forward in her seat, her eyes fixed on Naruto. This was the question that everyone had come to have answered. Ino, however, was furious. How dare they hold a trial for Naruto based on what the Kyuubi had done? How dare th-

"Well," Naruto said seriously, all foolishness in his demeanor gone, "That was obviously the Kyuubi. And I don't know about the rest of you," Naruto said, addressing the crowd, "But I don't think I look much like a nine tailed demon fox."

**Naruto may have had a collected look on his face,** but inwardly he was seething. If he didn't know that he would be executed, he would've punched that cocky son of a bitch straight off his podium. He wanted to, really, really badly, but he held himself back. He was going to win this and no asshole with his stupid podium was going to beat him.

"Thirteen years ago," Naruto said, "On the day I was born, the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into _my_ body, because he lacked the strength to defeat it entirely. So really, if it wasn't for me, you'd probably all be dead.

"Is that a threat?" the man asked, and then turned to the Council, "This is proof in itself-"

"It's the truth," Naruto said, looking fearlessly into his eyes, "Are you gonna deny it?"

The man stuttered something out feebly, but then fell silent. Naruto looked out at all the people in the stands and glared at them.

"I'd like to say," the Godaime Hokage said, looking quite impressive in her robes, "That the following people have vouched for Uzumaki Naruto, fully knowing that he contains the Kyuubi: Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji, Hatake Kakashi, Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Maito Gai, Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Nara Shikamaru, Rock Lee, Sarutobi Asuma, Tenten, Uchiha Sasuke, Umino Iruka, Yamanaka Ino, Yuuhi Kurenai, and myself. I believe that the Sandaime and Yondaime should also be added to this list, as the records left by the Sandaime suggest that he was fond of the boy and the Yondaime did seal the Kyuubi within the boy with the intention of Uzumaki Naruto being seen as a hero. And there is one more thing. I have also received a personal note vouching for Uzumaki Naruto, from the newly appointed Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara. Now," she said, crossing her arms and smiling at the Council, "I do believe you are in over your heads."

Later, Naruto was told that a trial had never ended so fast in the history of Konoha. But at the moment, it was all he could do not to break out in tears.

**Sasumi drew her good arm around her and shuddered. **It was strange how she did not notice the cold before, she reflected. She had tried to count the days, but it proved to be impossible. It was likely that there were no windows in her cell and even if there were, she wouldn't be able to tell because she was blindfolded. She still felt weak and tired, but she was slowly getting better now that she had started eating again. She ate every single scrap on her plate, wanting to get out as soon as possible.

Sasumi's cell seemed impenetrable. It was utterly unfeasible that she break out on her own, especially because of the handcuffs she wore. Therefore, her only escape seemed to be when the guards brought in food and water. She wasn't sure of how she would achieve this, of course. Not being able to see was an enormous hindrance, one which she had so far been unable to overcome. The handcuffs burned her if she didn't move with the utmost caution or if she tried to use her chakra. It seemed hopeless that she would ever break out.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar clinking of the lock on her prison door. Sasumi pulled her knees protectively to her chest and rested her head on her knees. She never moved or spoke when they came in even though she knew they were not the Rain.

"…hate this job. I really do."

"You say that every time we come down here. Suck it up."

A man and a women's voice echoed through her cell.

"Were _you_ expecting this type of job when you were assigned here?"

"Shut up."

"Ooh, touchy subject, huh?"

"I _said_, shut up."

"I mean, come on, we're _ninja_! Why the hell are we doing a maid's job?"

"She _is_ a high security prisoner who supposedly murdered a tons of the Rain's top shinobi."

"That's bullshit, she's a goddamn anorexic little girl with a death wish."

There was a clanking noise and Sasumi heard bowls being shuffled around.

"C'mon, let's go get a drink after out shifts over."

"Yeah, that'd be nic…"

There was a loud bang, and the door was shut, muffling all further conversation.

Sasumi lifted her head and let her legs relax. With her legs, she pushed herself across the floor and turned herself around so she could feel the food with her good arm. her hand came in contact with a bowl and she dipped her fingers in to find water. She moved her hands to the left and found nothing. She moved them all the way to the right and found another bowl this one full of rice and what she knew to be some type of fish. She turned around and leaned down to drink and eat from the bowls. It was extremely humiliating that she should be forced to eat like this, but it was better than dying.

As she ate, Sasumi went over every detail she knew about her cell. There were three sets of ninja that came in to feed her. Presumably in the morning, at noon, and at night. There were two shinobi in each set, four men and two women. By the sound of their voices and their manner of speech, they were probably in their early twenties. From their conversation the only things she had learned were that they had been told what crime she was being held for, but not her name. They also had let slip several times that her cell was underground. Sasumi was unfamiliar with the details of Konoha's legal buildings and therefore was uncertain where she was. They had said nothing further about even the slightest thing pertaining to Naruto or Sasuke, which was driving Sasumi insane with worry. They could already be dead and she would never know.

After Sasumi had finished eating she pushed herself back into the corner of her cell and leaned up against the wall. There was rice sticking to her face and she brought up her knees to rub them closer to her mouth so she could lick them off. After her face was clean, Sasumi closed her eyes and let her head fall back.

"I'm starting to lose hope," she said allowed, listening to the echoes of her voice.

She waited a few minutes before speaking again, as if waiting for someone to reassure her.

"I'm starting to despair."

She let her head fall onto her knees and squeezed her closed eyes.

"I'm starting to believe that I'll never get out of here."

**Sasuke awoke to birds chirping outside. **Sunlight streamed through the window onto the hospital bed that be had been confined to. The doctors and nurses had had a fit once they found his empty bed and had forbidden him to leave it again. And Kakashi, that bastard, had done nothing at all but smirked at him.

Another thing that bothered him was that he had been unable to talk to Naruto after the trial. He had disappeared right after the trial and Sasuke hadn't seen him since. It had been a few days since Naruto was declared innocent and Sasuke had begun to worry about his other teammate, whom even the Hokage hadn't seen. He wanted to Naruto so he could discuss what they would do about Sasumi. Obviously, Konoha had found out about who she really was and for the life of him, Sasuke couldn't think of any result of this that would end happily. He needed Naruto so he could brainstorm with him and more importantly, talk about the situation with someone. Sasuke was getting sick of Kakashi's suspicious glances and felt that talking the situation over with someone, even if it was Naruto, would really help him get new ideas.

And to make matters even more complicated, there was the _other_ notion, deep in the back of his mind that Sasuke wasn't quite sure he wanted to admit to or even think about. It was the part of his mind that was _glad_ that he hadn't seen Naruto yet. It was the nervous, weak, part that didn't know what to say to a person who had been the holder of a demon for his entire life. It was the part that didn't know how to act around or how to even think about his blond teammate anymore.

Sasuke scowled at where his train of thought had reached and gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position. He swung his feet over the side of the bed a little too quickly and winced, forcing his hands not to immediately wrap around the injured area and risk reopening his wounds. Technically, he knew, he shouldn't be standing, much less walking, but Sasuke was a shinobi and lying in bed for weeks on end didn't suit him. He limped slowly across the floor, the cold tile uncomfortable under his feet, to the other end of the room where his crutches stood leaning against the wall. He was about the open the door that led into a pristine white hallway that characterized Konoha's hospital when he heard the telltale signs of clicking heels against ceramic and flattened himself against the wall next to the door.

Sasuke pointedly ignored how pathetic hiding from nurses was.

After she passed, he looked warily out the door and found that the hall was empty. Perfect. He slowly half hopped, half walked with his crutches out the door and down the hallway, ears trained for the sounds of approaching heels. He walked to the quietest end of the hospital where there was a huge window. Sasuke carefully sat down on the window ledge and inhaled the fresh air. His room was incredibly stuffy and the windows were locked so fresh air was a nice change.

It was cool outside and after sitting there for a few minutes Sasuke wished he had brought a jacket. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and found that it was almost eight o'clock, the time breakfast was delivered to his room. If they found his bed empty again, they'd probably lock the door. Grudgingly, Sasuke lifted himself up and made his way slowly back to his room. He was halfway there when he heard a loud annoying voice from behind a corner and before he could do anything, something blond, hyper, and orange rammed into him.

Sasuke hissed in pain as his legs gave way, the crutches fell to the floor, and he collapsed against the wall. He couldn't see anything but colored lights, his head hurt, his abdomen hurt, his legs hurt and he was going to _kill_ that idiot.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?! Speak to me, bastard!"

And now his ears hurt.

Sasuke groaned and grimaced shielding his eyes from the light.

"Sasuke! Don't just sit there! Get up you stupid-"

"Naruto, calm down, you're suffocating him."

Sasuke opened one eye to see Kakashi and Naruto looking concernedly down at him.

"You idiot!" Sasuke growled, "Why don't you look where you're going?"

He shakily tried to raise himself off the ground, but his stomach clenched in pain and he hissed and gave up.

"Goddammit, you asshole, don't blame _me_ 'cause you can't keep your balance!" Naruto said angrily.

_"I'm injured, you moron!" _Sasuke thought, but his pride prevented him from saying it aloud.

"Aren't you supposed to stay in bed until your wounds heal?" Kakashi asked innocently.

Sasuke decided to pretend he didn't hear him.

"See!" Naruto said, jabbing his finger at Sasuke, "It's not my fault you didn't listen to the nurses! So there!"

He crossed his arms insolently like a little child.

Sasuke only barely refrained from rolling his eyes.

"Sasuke, can you get up?" Kakashi asked, looking concernedly down at him.

"I'm. Fine," Sasuke snarled out.

"You don't look fine," Naruto piped in.

Sasuke ignored him and concentrated on pushing himself off the ground.

"Oi," Naruto said in a concerned voice.

"I don't need help," Sasuke said grabbing a hold of his crutches and pressed himself up against the wall.

He had almost said, "I don't need _your_ help," but in light of the recent events he knew how it would sound and how Naruto would interpret it.

He had just finally succeeded in standing at least somewhat erect when the dizziness hit him and he grappled against the wall for support.

"You need to lay down," he heard Kakashi's serious voice say.

Sasuke knew it was futile to protest and let Kakashi and Naruto drag him off to his room, chastising him for being stupid.

It was only after they left him alone in his room that Sasuke realized that things didn't have to change between him and Naruto. And he couldn't help feeling happy about this fact.

**A/N: This chapter was boring. I think it was the lack of fighting. I apologize and I promise that next chapter will be better. And much more angsty. **

**I'm really sorry that it took this long to write, but the last few weeks I just wasn't in the mood for writing and I had major Writer's Block. If you have any questions don't hesitate to review and ask. **


	21. Modoka Sazumi

Chapter Twenty-

**Naruto sighed. **Why was this taking so long? Why couldn't the bastard understand?

"It's not that hard," he complained, "C'mon, if we just _tell_ them what happened, I'm sure they'll understand!"

Sasuke gave him a look.

"Don't look at me like that, you asshole!"

"How many times do we have to go over this?!" Sasuke asked, looking frustrated, "Telling them is just going to make it worse! _We'll _probably get into trouble too!"

Naruto scowled at him, "I'm not just going to sit here and let her get killed," he said angrily, "Or worse, get sent back to the Rain!"

"I didn't say we're not going to do anything, but we have to have a better plan than that!"

"My plan's plenty good! You're just mad because you didn't think of it yourself!"

Sasuke scoffed and shook his head in an annoying way that made Naruto want to smack him.

They had been sitting in Sasuke's room in the hospital for almost three hours, discussing what they were going to do about Sasumi. Between the two of them they had little information concerning where Sasumi was or what had happened to her, making it hard to come up with a solution.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked collapsing onto Sasuke's bed.

"I don't know! Why do you think we're still talking about this?"

Naruto groaned into Sasuke's pillow.

"And don't do that! It's disgusting!"

"Whatever you say, princess," Naruto muttered, but Sasuke heard him and they spent the next twenty minutes throwing pillows at each other.

"I'm still right!" Sasuke gasped, pushing Naruto weakly.

"You…wish!" Naruto wheezed back.

"Look, it'll just make things worse if we tell them we were in on it," Sasuke said, breathing hard and leaning against the headboard of his bed.

"In on what? It's not like we're trying to take over Konoha or something!"

"They won't see it that way. I told you, they think Sasumi is a spy."

Naruto gave a weak laugh, "That's retarded. They think she would spy for them after they _tortured_ her?"

Sasuke shrugged uncomfortably, "It wasn't my idea. Besides, they're freaking out because the Rain's going to go crazy if they find out she's here.

Naruto paused and bit his lip, "Hey, Sasuke?"

"What?"

"Well, when I was with the old hag-"

"Who?"

"You know, the Hokage!"

"…why did you call her a 'hag?'"

"'Cause she's old, see!"

"No, I don't."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Ero-sennin said she was on the same team as he was, which means that she's his age, which means she's old!

"…'Ero-sennin?'"

"Never mind that!" Naruto said, frustrated, "The _Hokage_ said that Sasumi…killed a lot of people and that…she's…she's a wanted criminal…"

Sasuke didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then…

"Well, she did say that she used her Kekkai Genkai to escape."

There was an awkward pause.

"Shit!" Sasuke suddenly said, sitting up straight, "Why didn't I think of it before?"

"Huh?"

"Shikamaru! He knows too, doesn't he! We have to talk to him too!"

Sasuke sat up and made a grab for his crutches. They were about to leave when a voice stopped them dead.

"First," Kakashi-sensei said, dropping down from his place on the ceiling, "You're going to talk to me."

"Ka-Ka-Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto stuttered, "Hey, it seems like forever since we last saw y…okay, I'll just shut up…"

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Sasuke asked angrily, looking pale.

Kakashi-sensei gave him a look that Naruto had never seen on his face before and never wanted to see again.

"Now."

**Sasumi coughed, **her lungs ablaze with pain as she struggled to breathe. Over the last few days she had developed a horrible cough that probably came from breathing the foul, damp air of the dungeon. It was getting worse and worse and she was starting to wonder how much longer she would remain alive. She shifted her handcuffs slowly and pressed her mouth to her knees and another coughing fit overcame her. The last few times it had happened it had been accompanied by the horrible smell and taste of blood.

She was too weak to move around anymore and she was not given any medicine to relieve the pain. She vaguely wondered if they had decided to let her die or if they were unaware that she was sick at all. It was true she didn't particularly want to die, but it looked like she no longer had any choice in the matter. Sasumi really wanted to see them all one more time; Naruto, Sasuke, Hanada-san, Shikamaru, Ino, and Kakashi, but it was probably just as well that see would never lay living eyes on them again. She had caused them all enough trouble. The thought of asking her guards for help never crossed her mind. Later, she would reflect that this was not the first time her pride almost killed her.

She heard the usual sound of huge metal doors opening and laid her head down on her knees, praying that she wouldn't have another coughing fit until they were gone.

"Oi, brat, wakeup!"

Sasumi didn't move.

"Oi! C'mon, we're supposed to take you out of here…gah, this isn't working…"

"Do you think she's dead?"

"Nah, she ate her breakfast, didn't she?"

"C'mon, let's just get this over with."

Footsteps. Coming closer. There is a hand on her arm (her good one thankfully) and she is pulled her to her feet. There was pain in her lungs and she couldn't stop herself from coughing. Harsh sounds echoed around her cell and the guards whacked her on the back a few times, as if she's got something stuck in her throat. At the end, there was a familiar coppery taste in her mouth and blood ran down her chin. She didn't have enough energy to stand and slumped to the floor.

"What the hell is this?"

"Damn, she's sick! Look at that blood!"

"Blood? Take a look at her arms, hell, legs too! Are those burn marks? I never noticed before 'cause it was so dark…"

"Shit, let's just bring her to the room, c'mon this is really creeping me out…"

"Are you sure, it looks like she's really sick…"

"The Godaime's in there, right? She's a great healer, isn't she? Let's just go…"

_"Godaime!" _Sasumi thought, _"What's going on?" _

There was the sound of metal clanking together and suddenly she realizes that the chains around her ankles have been removed. One of them made a grab at her other arm, but she pulled it away from them and limps along, every step weakening her a little bit more. The light hurt her eyes. The blindfold had not been removed, but she could see it through the cloth, and after countless days in the dark her eyes weren't used to it.

They walked a long time, what seems like forever. The stairs almost killed her, there were so many steps upward and she had a coughing attack and almost broke her neck. Finally, she heard the doors open in front of her, big doors, she could tell from the sound. Sasumi was walked to the center of the room. It was a large room; she could tell by the slight change in temperature and air consistency.

"You two wait outside," a male voice said. The voice is harsh and unfamiliar and for what seems like the millionth time Sasumi wondered where in Konoha she was. Or if she was even in Konoha. The hand on her arm pulled away suddenly and she was not prepared for it. Her knees gave way and she fell to the cold tile floor, shaking slightly.

"Sasumi!"

That voice! There was no mistaking it, it was Naruto! He was alive?! She turned her head towards the sound slightly.

"Silence!" the voice said coldly, "You, Modoka, stand up!"

Sasumi's entire body lurched when he says _that_ name. The name that she cast away from her when she finally escaped that hell, the name she swore was not her own any longer.

"This is ridiculous, stand!"

"…can't," she said softly, surprised how dry and scratchy her voice sounds. Then, maybe because of the talking, her lungs burned again and she leaned over and coughed, the horrible sound echoing around the room. Blood filled her mouth and she choked it out onto the floor, slumping, totally exhausted. She heard yelling, probably Naruto, but her ears didn't seem to work properly and everything was beginning to sound the same. Then she felt a hand on her back and then another on her shoulder. She tensed immediately and her handcuffed hands twitched involuntarily, causing pain to travel up her bad arm.

"Oi, Sasumi, are you okay?!"

"Does it look like she's okay? Shit, we need a doctor…"

She gave another soft cough and blood dribbled out of her mouth. Everything was spinning suddenly and she found that she couldn't keep her balance and fell to the right.

A pair of hands caught her at the last second and she is pulled into a seated position. Another voice close to her was saying: "Dammit, this isn't good!"

More voices, people who she may know, but who they were she couldn't pinpoint at the moment.

"What the _hell_ is this, Danzou? This is the second prisoner in a week that I've found to be mistreated! Do I need to instigate an _inquiry_?!" a woman yelled.

"She's choking up blood! Tsunade-sama!"

"Sasumi, c'mon, Sasumi!"

"What the hell are you doing? Get away from her this instant!"

"Get those handcuffs off now!"

"But, Tsunade-hime, she-"

"Now!"

"Sasumi!"

Sasumi felt a hand clasp both her wrists and a jingle of something metal. Then suddenly the handcuffs are gone.

"And the blindfold."

There was an uproar of argument from the left side of the room, but Sasumi can barely understand what they're saying.

"I said, and the blindfold! I can't judge a person if I can't see their eyes!"

The piece of cloth was wrenched from her face and she immediately snapped her eyes shut as light pierces her sensitive eyes. She kept her head parallel to the floor and opened her eyes a little more every second, trying to get used to the light.

"Sasumi?"

She looked up, her eyes mere slits, and saw a blob of orange and yellow. Definitely Naruto. She looked to her sides and saw what looked like Sasuke and…Shikamaru? She surveyed the room, but it was hardly worth it considering her bad eyesight. As far as she could tell it was white and big and there were about twenty-five people. She could see what looked like Kakashi, the Godaime Hokage, her assistant, and then a bunch of people on her left who she couldn't identify. The woman who was the new Hokage walked closer to her and put her hand on her chest. Sasumi hissed in anger, but then stopped when she realized that the woman was healing her. She closed her eyes and let the tension out of her body.

"Hey, is Sasumi going to be okay?" Naruto asked, his voice a whisper.

"Are you doubting me, brat?" the Hokage said.

It was a mark of the direness of the situation when Naruto doesn't complain about being called a brat.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked her and removed her hand.

Sasumi opened her eyes and looked into the Hokage's. The woman immediately broke eye contact with her.

_"So," _Sasumi thought, _"They know the details of the Shi no Me. I wonder how she found out."_

"Fine," she rasped out and pressed her good hand to the floor and pushed her self into a standing position.

"You will not break. You're going to stand tall and you're not going to show them any weakness."

She straightened her spine and ignored the stares at her arms, legs, neck, and the V-neck of the yukata she was wearing.

"You're not going to beg. It doesn't matter what they threaten you with. You have your pride and you're not going to let them take that away."

She turned her eerie green eyes towards the group of people to her left. One glance at them told her that they were the Council of Konoha and that they were all terrified of her. A man covered in bandages admonished Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru for interfering with the questioning and told them to go back to their seats. Naruto looked like he wanted to argue, but they all trudged back, shooting her worried glances. The Hokage also returned to her seat at the front of the room.

"They can do whatever they want to you, but you must not let them beat you. That was your mistake last time."

She was alone now, barely standing in the center of the white, big room, with every eye on her.

"You are Modoka Sazumi?" the Godaime Hokage said, her eyes fixed to an indiscriminate place above her head.

Sasumi almost flinched at the sound of her old name. Almost.

"Yes," she said calmly.

"You are charged with treason, duplicity, and 1st degree murder. How do you plead?"

"Guilty," Sasumi said evenly, "To all but the first count."

"_You must not break again!"_

**Tsunade had seen many horrible things in her lifetime. **She had seen her old teammate's human experiments, her younger brother's mangled body and her lover die before her own eyes. She had seen shinobi and civilians alike cut into pieces and an entire city that had succumbed to a horrible disease. However, even after all that, she didn't know exactly how to react after seeing a tortured child. Especially one like this one.

The girl who stood before her stood straight and there was no hint of submission in her eyes. There were burn marks, grotesque scars, needle indentations, chunks of flesh torn out, and blacked puncture wounds on every part of her body that Tsunade could see except for her face. She was also very thin and bony and her skin had a sickly pallor to it. One of the girl's arms went up to brush her oddly bright hair out of her eyes and Tsunade saw more scars and what looked like acid burns. Tsunade's hands began to shake and she gripped her thighs, willing herself to calm down.

"_This is just another convict," _she told herself, _"Get a hold of yourself!"_

"Why not guilty to treason?" she asked, cursing her weak tone, "We have every reason to believe you're a spy from the Rain."

What were those reasons again? Tsunade couldn't remember.

The girl let out a derisive noise, "Are these not reason enough?" she asked, gesturing to her disfigured body.

Tsunade felt sick.

"For the past three years," the girl said, her voice still rough "Konoha had been my home. I cannot think of any plausible reason that I would betray my home to my former _torturers_."

It was how casually the girl said these things that scared her, not the words themselves.

"I can," Danzou cut in and Tsunade tensed, "I have seen even shinobi break under the pressure of torture and turn against their home village."

Modoka looked intensely at him and suddenly Tsunade realized that Danzou had forgotten to avert his eyes and had walked straight into the trap of the girl's Kekkai Genkai.

"Well," said the girl after a few seconds, "You would have, wouldn't you?"

"Objection!" Danzou said angrily, flushed with anger "Tsunade-hime, this is absurd! The Modoka must be blindfolded, otherwise she will be able to do even more damage!"

"Are you saying," Tsunade said slowly, "that this allegation is true?"

Tsunade has never heard a silence so loud.

Shizune shifted uncomfortably next to her and without waiting for an answer, Tsunade speaks again:

"Mark my words, Danzou," Tsunade said steadily, though her hands are shaking, "I will look into this."

She turned her eyes back to Modoka whose expression had changed. She was now looking vaguely interested and Tsunade could not stop their eyes from meeting. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Tsunade looked away, her cheeks heating up in shame. Maybe it would have been better after all if the girl were still blindfolded. But the girl didn't say anything.

"You admit, that three years ago, you murdered approximately half of the Rain's ANBU," Tsunade said, regaining her confidence.

"Yes."

"You confess that you tricked your way into Konoha, using a false identity."

"Yes."

"You concede that you therefore _lied_ to the officials of our Country."

"Yes."

"You acknowledge that you have been spying on Konoha for the past three years."

"No."

The word is spoken in just the same tone as the others and Modoka's facial expression does not change.

Tsunade had used up all her tricks and out of the corner of her eye she saw that Danzou was opening his mouth to speak.

"How did you do it?" she asked, before Danzou could utter a syllable.

For a fraction of a second, the girl looked confused. But then it was gone, replaced by a cold mask of indifference.

"Do what?" Modoka asked.

"Get inside the gates. We do have guards."

"It was a summer night," the redhead replied, "The guards were asleep."

"If you were not sent to spy on us," Tsunade asked, changing her track, "Then why are you here?"

Modoka looked at her strangely, but replied just the same, "This is a nice village, better than the others I have seen," she said baldly.

Some of the Council members shifted uneasily at this and Tsunade raised her eyebrows in surprise. It was not the kind of answer she expected.

"If you are not a spy," she said, choosing to ignore the strange reply, "Then why did you become a ninja?"

"It is a job," the S-Class nin replied, "And there is not much else that I excel at."

"Being a ninja?" Tsunade asked in surprise, remembering 'Yamaki Sasumi's' average marks from the academy and notes from mission files.

"No," the girl answered, "Killing."

For a second Tsunade looked into her eyes again and saw something strange. An element of remorse, maybe? No, that was not it. Those were not the eyes of someone who regretted what they had done. Tsunade had seen many of those. No, in her eyes, the Godaime Hokage saw self loathing and disgust. And that changed everything.

A odd mummer ran through the few spectators and Tsunade automatically sought out the figure of Uzumaki Naruto. He was staring intently at his teammate with an expression she had never seen on his face before. Was it…pity?

When Kakashi had dragged him, the Uchiha, and the Nara into her office claiming that they had more evidence about Modoka, Tsunade was…well, a bit hurt. It was stupid of her, she knew, but for some reason she had thought that maybe she had gained at least Naruto's trust if anyone's at all. The three of them were forced to tell her that they had known about 'Yamaki Sasumi's' true identity for months and that they had promised her that they wouldn't tell anyone. Naruto had told her that at least part of the Rain's story was true, that Modoka had indeed broken out from a prison in the Rain where they had tortured her because of her genetic ability. Tsunade had been slightly skeptical and had told herself that she would not make her decision before she actually saw the girl. But now, by the look on Naruto's face and the scars that covered Modoka Sazumi's body, Tsunade knew that she could not execute the girl as much as she could not execute Naruto.

"_I must be getting soft,"_ she thought.

"Homura, Koharu," she addressed the most senior Council members as she rose out of her chair, "I need to speak with you outside, now."

It was an order and they disapprovingly rise from their seats and follow her out into the hallway.

"What are you thinking?" Homura asked her seriously as soon as the doors closed.

"Do you honestly believe the girl is a spy?" she asked them, ignoring Homura's question.

She saw the reluctance in their eyes before they even answered.

"After seeing her…" Koharu trailed off.

"…it is rather doubtful," Homura finished.

"But what is to be done?" Koharu asked, "Tsunade you _do_ know what will happen if the Rain finds out she's here. They've been looking for a weak spot for years and you know they will accuse us of _knowingly_ harboring a criminal whether they truly believe that or not!"

Tsunade frowned, "You don't think they'll-"

"That's exactly what we're thinking," Homura said, "War!"

"That's ridiculous," Tsunade exclaimed, "The Rain isn't even a tenth of the size of the Fire Country! There's no way they'd declare war!"

"There have been strange rumors going around about that region for years," Koharu said seriously, "I'm not suggesting that they could defeat us, but the Rain have always been unstable and unpredictable. We have no idea how important this girl's ability could mean to them and their pride as a Country."

"We can't give her back," Tsunade said, horrified "That's out of the question."

They did not argue with her and Tsunade knew that the girl's scars had scared them as well.

"No," Homura said, "We cannot."

"Her ability could potentially be extremely useful," Tsunade ventured, "If the proper precautions are taken, we could use this to our advantage."

There was a pause.

"This is your decision then?" Koharu said softly.

Tsunade nodded.

"I hope you do not regret it," Homura said gravely and both of them turn to enter the room again.

"One more thing," Tsunade said, stopping them short, "Who came up with the idea that Modoka was a spy?"

Homura swallows, "Danzou."

_A few minutes later_

"The details of this trial are to be strictly confidential," Tsunade said, addressing the entire room "If any of you breathe a word about this to anyone there will be consequences." She looked at Danzou longer than any of the rest of them.

"Tsunade-hime, I must protest against this decision, it is much too rash and-"

"And that, Danzou," Tsunade said, her anger taking control, "is why I am the Hokage and you are not."

Fury took over his features for a second and then, in a blink of an eye, it was gone again. Tsunade turned her gaze away from him arrogantly.

"Yamaki," she said in a calmer tone, "You were never here. You were in the hospital for injuries obtained in your fight with Orochimaru, do I make myself clear?"

The red-haired girl nodded, the expression of confusion that had appeared on her face from the moment Tsunade announced that she would not be punished or handed back to the Rain had not disappeared.

"Thank you," she said politely, bowing her head.

"Alright," Tsunade said, "Dismissed."

The second the word left her mouth Naruto jumped out of his seat and hugged Modoka…to her obvious discomfort. The Nara and Uchiha follow, looking incredibly relieved. Kakashi looked just about as confused as Modoka, but did not say anything. Tsunade waited until the room was cleared of people and then she and Shizune packed up and left.

_"As one problem is solved," _Tsunade thought,_ "Another surfaces." _

And she had a feeling that this one would be her hardest yet.

**A/N: Woah, chapter twenty! This fic is getting so long…Anyway, yeah this chapter just about rounds up this part and the real question is, is the Council good or bad? They keep switching on me! Though, don't worry, Danzou's always going to be evil! XD**

**And can you believe it? It's been about a year and two months since this fic was started! It's seems so weird!**

**Anyway, please review and thanks to my awesome beta! Happy Holidays! **


	22. Redheads, Sand, and Tests II

Chapter Twenty-One-

**The first thing Sasumi did after she was half carried out of the room, **was throw up. She fell to her knees and emptied her guts onto the white tile floor. The problem was that there wasn't much left in her stomach and after the first few seconds she just gagged and coughed.

"Sasumi!" Naruto cried, grabbing her bad arm.

Sasumi blacked out.

When she woke, a few hours later, she was lying in a familiar bed in the hospital. She reached out with her right arm and pushed herself into a seated position to the protests of the other occupants of the room.

"Sasumi-san," Hanada-san chided, "You shouldn't be sitting up…"

Sasumi swallowed and looked around the room. Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Kakashi were also there. No one else. She exhaled and let her shoulders relax. She looked down and saw that she was wearing her own pajamas and her arms were heavily bandaged again and her neck warmer was secure.

It was what was sticking out of her good arm that made her freeze. It was a tube, a very ordinary thing you'd see at a hospital and if Sasumi was thinking clearly, it would have made sense to her that she had an IV in her arm.

The last time she had had an IV in her arm was when she had fainted of hunger. She had understood why she was in the hospital and had been worried about more important things to care. However, now, after spending countless days thinking she was back in the Rain, Sasumi was terrified. Her entire body gave a jerk and she moved her bad, left arm without thinking to pull it out. Get it away and-_no more poisons and chemical, please, no-_

"Sasumi!" Naruto yelped, grabbing her arm to stop her.

Fear. He was touching her. She hated it. Too close. Get away, get away, get away-

"Sasumi?" Sasuke said, frowning slightly, "What are you doi-"

She struggled to get out of Naruto's grip, pain making it's way up and down her arm, and any second she'd break, and scream, and-

"Sasumi-san!" Hanada-san said putting her hand lightly over the IV, "Listen to me a second."

It is only then that Sasumi realized that she felt lightheaded and was out of breath. At the same time, she realized that there were five people crowded around her and she scrambled back in a vain attempt to get away.

"Sasumi!" Hanada-san said almost harshly, "Look at me."

Hanada-san gripped her shoulder and Sasumi automatically looked at her.

"Listen to me, okay," she said, sounding kinder all of the sudden, "We're here to help you, alright. This IV," Hanada-san rubbed her arm soothingly, "is going to help you. It's adding nutrients and fluids into your body that you don't have a lot of and you need to get better. Do you understand me?"

Sasumi couldn't speak and just stared at her.

"Do you understand me? Just shake or nod."

Sasumi nodded and Hanada-san released her and she slumped against the headboard.

"Oi…" Shikamaru said, speaking for the first time, "Are you okay?"

Sasumi lifted her right arm up to cradle her head and took four deep breaths before answering.

'I'm…fine," she said finally, closing her eyes so they couldn't see how scared she had been, "I just…" she trailed off and suddenly wanted to bury herself in the blankets and never come out.

She fell asleep soon after that, and when she woke up, she was touched to find that all of them were still there. The sun appeared to just have gone down and Sasumi guessed that it was about seven.

"…Tsunade-baa-chan had better do something about that asshole, 'cause Sasumi still hasn't woken up yet and-" Naruto was saying.

"Er…'baa-chan'?" Kakashi inquired.

"Well, Ero-sennin said she was about the same age as he is so she's old, you know!?"

"Don't ask," Sasuke told him, "Just don't."

"Pfft," Naruto said dismissively, "I explained it to him before you walked in when we were here last time, but he's too stupid to- OW!"

"Say that again, moron?" Sasumi could hear Sasuke smirking.

"You _ass_hol-"

"Hey, stop it, you two," Hanada-san said severally, "There could be people trying to sleep!"

"…at quarter after eight?" Shikamaru asked in his usual bored tone.

Sasumi decided to save him from Hanada-san's wrath (the poor boy had no idea what he was getting into) by turning over in the bed and sitting up.

"Sasumi!" Naruto said cheerfully, "You're awake! We've got food!"

"And it's actually _not_ ramen," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Shut up, bastard," Naruto said and then winked at Sasumi, "He's just mad because my ultimate master plan worked!"

"'Ultimate master plan'?" Sasumi questions, slightly amused, as Hanada-san handed her a bowl of miso soup on a tray.

"Well," Naruto said, launching happily into an explanation, ignoring Sasuke's rolling eyes, "After I totally kicked the asses of the Council a week ago, me and the bastard were trying to figure out how to break you out. I said that we should just explain everything to ol' baa-chan, the Hokage, by the way, 'cause she's awesome and everything. But no, he starts whining about us getting in trouble and all that bitchy stuff," Naruto ducked a fist at this point, "And he's so loud that Kakashi-sensei overhears and drags us off to see baa-chan anyway!"

"Idiot, I wasn't responsible for Kakashi, overhearing," Sasuke said, before Sasumi could say anything, "_he_ was sitting on the ceiling listening the whole time."

Sasumi frowned slightly, turning her face towards Kakashi. It took her awhile to recognize the feeling, but eventually, she realized that she was annoyed. She had no reason to be, though. In fact, the Hokage knowing had probably saved her life. Why was she angry?

Hanada-san also seemed perturbed, "Why did you go to the Hokage?" she asked him.

"I had orders to give any information I had concerning the matter," he said, "And because their were rumors about Sasumi being a spy-"

"So that's it then," Sasumi said furiously, "Always following the rules, are we?"

The second the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Of course, he had wanted to persuade the Hokage that she wasn't a spy, and with Naruto and Sasuke's information he had more evidence. She was his teammate as well, and after all-

"_Those who abandon their teammates are trash."_

Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Hanada-san looked confusedly between the two of them and Sasumi clamped her right hand over her mouth in horror. She bowed her head low, so low that her bangs touch the sheets.

"I-I shouldn't have said that," she said, keeping her head low, to show sincerity, but also because she didn't want to see his face, "You have my humblest apologies. I-"

Kakashi took a step and she tensed, almost expecting him to hit her. But then the door shut and she realized that he was gone.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head in them, ignoring the questions posed to her.

"I shouldn't have said that," she whispered.

**"What do you mean?" **Shikamaru asked, coming to sit on the edge of her bed.

"I shouldn't have," she whispered, "I knew that I shouldn't say things like that, but I was mad, and didn't even know why. Shit!"

Naruto and Sasuke both looked nonplussed and Shikamaru doubted whether they'd heard her swear before either.

"Why?" Naruto asked almost timidly, "Why was he mad after you said, I mean, what did it mean?"

"It was the way he was before," she said, taking fast into her blanketed knees, "After it happened, everything was about rules, not matter the consequences. And then during the war, _she_ got captured and he wouldn't try and save her, but Obito did, and when Obito died, he got his eye because his own eye was ruined…," she gave a shudder, and the doctor put her arm on her shoulder, "And this is why I hate them! I hate these eyes, they ruin everything!"

"'Obito?'" Sasuke started, "Was he an Uchiha? Is that how Kakashi got his Shari-"

Shikamaru made a waving motion with his hands to shut him up.

_"The absolute idiot," _he thought,_ "And I thought Naruto was a moron!"_

"Ummm…Sasumi," Naruto said, looking concerned, "Want me to get you some ramen? 'Cause ramen always makes me feel better when I'm depressed."

_"Never mind."_

Sasumi gave a soft noise that could have been a laugh, "I think I'll pass," she said.

"Really, Sasumi-san," the doctor said, arm still on Sasumi's shoulder, "It's not your fault. He'll forgive you, you'll see."

"How is it not my fault?" she asked, head still buried against the blankets.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Sasumi-san," the doctor said.

"Yeah!" Naruto said, warming on the topic, "Like that one time when I accidentally dyed all that guy's laundry pink on that one mission! And then there was that time, where-"

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto," Sasuke interrupted, "You did that on purpose."

"I did not!"

"Right."

"Well, _maybe _he was being a bit of an asshole, but it wasn't my fault!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and thought longingly of his bed.

_"Mmm…nice and warm…"_

"-and then," Naruto continued, loudly, to the doctor's horror, "When I tripped and broke my kunai-"

"How do you break a _kunai_?"

"I dunno, it just broke!"

"The handle or the actual blade?"

"The handle, you stupid bastard, what else?! Though, that'd be pretty cool if I could break the blade just by falling on it…"

Shikamaru felt like an old man. A tired old man, that is. All he wanted, was to go home, take a nice long bath and go to sleep.

Eventually, Naruto and Sasuke got too tired to continue bickering (a miracle if there ever was one) and Sasuke hobbled on his crutches back to his room (to Naruto's delight) and Shikamaru went home.

His mother was furious when he walked in at about ten-thirty, but Shikamaru managed to escape her wrath long enough to get into the bathtub, where she didn't dare follow.

All in a day's work.

**Walking out of that room, **Kakashi was furious.

The reaction of most of the shinobi and Council members that had found out Sasumi, or Sazumi, or whatever's true abilities, was caution. In Kakashi's case, there was also a feeling of betrayal, especially when he found out that Naruto and Sasuke had _known _all this time. He felt that she should have told him. But then again, why would she?

Sasumi had never been very social, always preferring to stay silent than ask for help, and at long last he knew why. He didn't want to know what kind of sick tools had been used to cover those scars, all those scars. It had been hard to take in that his student, even though she was one of the strangest he'd ever seen, had been a torture victim and had escaped, killing her guards gaining her a place among the worst criminals alive. It was even harder to take in that Sasumi could just look at him and _know_. Know everything there was to know about him, and today she proved that she'd seen one of his worst memories.

"_Oh, Obito,"_ Kakashi thought staring out into space on the roof of his apartment, _"What would you have done?" _

Obito, he knew, would have just made a stupid joke, and gone on with life. But Kakashi, Kakashi couldn't do that. He could be late everyday, he could say cheesy things about protecting comrades, and literally _see_ through Obito's eye, but-

"_Don't be stupid, Hatake,"_ he thought, _"You saw her face when she realized what she said. She didn't want to say that."_

But that didn't necessarily mean she didn't mean it.

Kakashi sighed, _"I'm acting like an insecure teenager."_

"Hey, hey, Kaka-sensei!"

Kakashi winced. Just what he needed.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, are you trying to ignore me?"

"No."

"Sasumi's really sorry, you know."

Kakashi didn't say anything for a few seconds.

Then, finally, "I know."

Naruto blinked and sat next to him, orange clad legs swinging from the edge of the roof in a childish manner.

"Are _you _okay?" was his next question

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow in vague amusement, "What are you implying?" he asked in mock anger.

Naruto apparently took him seriously and paled, "Er…I mean, well, I was just asking, you know…"

"Are you thinking that your sensei's getting soft in his old age? Huh?"

"No-I was only just…er…"

"Well, good to have that cleared up!" Kakashi said and, suddenly feeling inexplicably cheerful, grabbed Naruto by his collar and proceeded to drag him away.

"Oi, lemmmego! Owww, you bastard! Kakashi-sensei, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I just remembered that the new Icha Icha book is due to come out this week. I wonder if it's in yet?" he mused.

"NO! PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

In the end, Kakashi ended up dragging a screaming and pleading Naruto down the streets of the slightly shady part of Konoha. At least until Naruto escaped and ran for his life (and virgin eyes.)

Four months later 

**Naruto hopped from roof to roof**, ducking a soapy frying pan that an angry woman had thrown at him. Hey, it wasn't his fault that he tripped and fell into her laundry!

And now he was going to be late, even later than Kakashi-sensei. Then again, he actually had a valid excuse, so…

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, stumbling as he landed on the bridge with a loud thump, "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, baa-chan want-"

"You're late," Sasuke told him furiously, as if he didn't know.

"It's not my fault," Naruto said quickly, "But, Kakashi-sensei, baa-chan wants us to come to her office now!"

Kakashi-sensei frowned slightly, "Now?"

"Yeah! She wants to talk to the whole team and just forget about today's mission," then feeling like he should elaborate, Naruto said, "I know, she would usually send a bird, but since I was there anyway, she just sent me to get you, and I really think we should go there now, because she didn't look happy, and-"

"Why were you in the Hokage's office?" Sasumi asked mildly.

"Err…well, I was sorta trying to steal the Hokage robe thing, but that's besides the point," he said quickly.

Sasuke snorted.

"Hey! What the hell are you laughing abo-"

"Right," Kakashi-sensei said, "Let's go and try not to kill each other in the process, shall we?"

The Hokage was not happy when they finally showed up, and proceeded to yell at him for five minutes straight. Yes, Naruto had counted.

"Er, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi-sensei asked modestly, "Forgive my intrusion, but you did call us here, correct?"

"Oh, yes," Tsunade-baa-chan said, "I have a new mission for you, your first B-Class I believe."

"Yes!" Naruto shouted, "Haha, no more patrolling, gods I'm _so _sick of that!"

"Shut up, brat!" Tsunade growled, looking quite deranged as she swigged sake, "Now, look, you're going to be going to the Sand to deliver a scroll to a potential spy."

"Huh?"

The blonde-haired woman sighed, and brushed her bangs out of her eyes, "For the past few months, we have received information from the Sand that suggests one of our emissaries there is leaking information to other powerful nations like the Rock. The plan is you're going to deliver a fake scroll to him, and you," she pointed to Sasumi, "are going to look into his memories and see if he is in fact the spy, or if he knows who the spy is. Understood?"

Sasumi blinked, looking quite surprised to be mentioned, and then nodded.

"What happens if he's not the spy?" Sasuke asked, "Do we take the scroll back?"

Tsunade-baa-chan blinked, "Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that. Well, I don't really care all that much, though I prefer that he didn't know that we suspected him. So do whatever."

Naruto stifled a laugh at the look on Sasuke's face. Then he remembered something, "Hey, wait, baa-chan, isn't Gaara in the Sand?!"

She gave him a look, "Last time I checked," she told him, "Sabaku no Gaara was the _Kazekage _of the Wind Country."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said flippantly, waving a hand, "Same thing."

Kakashi-sensei smacked his forehead, Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Sasumi looked vaguely amused.

They were given a day to pack, and Naruto spent most of it trying to figure out what this 'sunscreen' was that Sasuke and Sasumi were talking about. Eventually he gave up, and packed a few changes of clothes, his pajamas (with the awesome hat, no matter how much Sasuke made fun of him), and of course, some ramen. 'Cause after all, who knew if they had ramen in the Sand?

They left early the next day, 'cause apparently the Wind Country was really far away. Or something like that. Baa-chan had said that while the Sand was aware that they were coming, she wanted them to finish the mission and leave as quickly as possible. When Naruto had asked why, Tsunade had said something about not being seen and looked pointedly at Sasumi. Naruto got the picture after that.

Sasuke acted like a bitch the entire time, probably because he was still mad that Gaara had put into a coma. Yeah, that was probably it. Naruto was kinda excited to see the other jinchuuriki and wasted no time in telling Sasuke so. Which resulted in another fight. Which Naruto totally won. Right.

The Sand was really…sandy, actually. And the sand got everywhere. It kinda sucked and Kakashi-sensei kept saying cryptic things about running out of water. Bastard.

The ANBU at the gate of the Hidden Sand Village looked suspicious, but after Kakashi-sensei showed the proper identification they let them grudgingly in. People looked at them strangely in the Sand. Like they were going to attack them. Naruto was used to these kinds of looks, but these people didn't know that he was the holder of the Kyuubi, right? He could tell that Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke were a little unnerved by this as well. Sasumi just ignored them.

They checked into a seedy inn and dumped their things there. Naruto immediately wanted to see Gaara, but Kakashi-sensei told them to stay put and went to scout the area.

"This is boring," he complained.

Sasuke scowled, but said nothing.

"I'm hungryyyyy!"

"Shut up, idiot."

"That time of the month, Sasuke-chan? OWW! That hurt!"

"It was supposed to."

"You're a bastard."

"And you're an idiot."

Sasumi wordlessly stands up from her seated position and passed Naruto to open the window.

"Wait! Sasumi, stop!"

She turned around, blinking at him. He ran up to her and put his hand horizontal to his head and moved it out in front of him.

"Aha! I'm taller than you now!"

Sasuke, who had been watching with slight confusion, rolled his eyes with that annoying superior look on his face.

"HA! That's what you think now, but wait 'til I get taller than you!"

"Ha, you wish."

"You asshole-"

Kakashi-sensei didn't come back for a long time and when he did, Sasumi and Sasuke were already asleep, wrapped up in their futons. Naruto had to resist the urge to color on Sasuke's face with permanent markers several times.

"You're late," Naruto said, though the effect is kinda ruined when he yawned.

"And you're blond," Kakashi-sensei told him.

…Naruto figured that was fair.

**A/N: Haha! It's done! **

**Next chapter will be more exciting, I promise! They'll be Gaara and it'll be cool and yeah…(Is still in shock that it's already chapter twenty-one)**

**Anyway, many thanks to Sleeping Soundly (my beta.) So please review and I'll be happy!**


	23. Perilously it Begins

Chapter Twenty-Two-

**"Hey, honey, what's yer name?" **An obviously inebriated man leered at Sasumi.

"Oi, back off, asshole," Naruto snarled.

Sasuke ignored the urge to draw a kunai from under his civilian clothing and dragged Naruto away from the man.

"You idiot," he growled, "We're supposed to be undercover! Don't be so conspicuous!"

"Screw that," Naruto hissed back, "You have to know what the bastard was implying! You think I'm just gonna stand there and-"

"Uzumaki-san," Sasumi interrupted, "Uchiha-san is right, we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves, and anyway we need to keep moving. Hatake-sensei should be here with the target in approximately 26 minutes."

"Right," Sasuke said, with a pointed look at Naruto, "Now let's go over the mission details one last time."  
Naruto let out a groan, but didn't complain.

It was almost seven o'clock and they had been waiting for Kakashi in one of the not-so-nice areas in the Hidden Sand Village for almost an hour. They had decided earlier that morning that Kakashi would meet the emissary alone, disguised as an ANBU Captain. He would give the emissary the scroll and then lead him to them under the pretense of asking the man to show him the local nightlife.

Naruto, himself, and Sasumi all were dressed in civilian clothing and thus looked easy prey for any creeps that came by. Already, two prostitutes, and an older man whom he had dispatched when no one was looking had approached Sasuke. It was a disgusting place, but Sasuke couldn't help notice that Naruto and Sasumi didn't seem to mind as much as he did. He knew that Sasumi lived in a place similar, but he had expected Naruto to freak out…much more than he had, anyway. While he seemed wary and cautious, he seemed to understand the area much more than Sasuke himself did.

It was also strange, seeing his teammates in civilian clothes. Naruto not wearing orange, but instead a plain brown haori and black pants; and Sasumi a light blue yukata, pants, and a tight, high collared black shirt underneath that covered the scars on her neck. Her short hair was also tied back, making her almost unrecognizable. Sasuke wore a sandy colored shirt and coarse shorts. It felt strange not wearing his kunai and shuriken pouches and forehead protector. It made him feel slightly vulnerable even though he had seven kunai strapped to his chest, and ten shuriken to his legs.

"So…" Naruto said, leaning against the wall of the dingy alley they were camping out in, "Kaka-sensei brings the guy, me and Sasuke watch from both sides, Sasumi 'accidentally' bumps into him, and sees his memories. If there's nothing there she'll just apologize and leave, if there is something there, she'll take the hair tie out of her hair, and then we attack. Are we done now?"

"Just don't mess it up, moron," Sasuke told him.

"Shut up, you basta-" he started, only to be interrupted by Sasumi.

"They're coming," she said from her post on the top of the building next to them.

"What?" Sasuke said furrowing his eyebrows, "I though they were supposed to be here twenty minute from now."

"Well, then I guess they're early," Naruto said shrugging inconsequentially, "So, I'll walk across to the other side then…?" He drew a kunai out from under his shirt.

"I'll do it," Sasuke said, "You're too conspicuous."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"You have blond hair," Sasuke told him flatly, "It stands out."

"Sasuke, you idiot, this is the _Sand_, not Konoha! Half the people here have blond hair!"

"It's still too conspicuous," Sasuke argued stubbornly.

"Argh, Goddammit, you-"

"There's no time," Sasumi said, jumping down, "Go, Uchiha-san. They should pass by here in about two minutes."

Sasuke smirked at the insulted look on Naruto's face and walked quickly across the dirt road, not even glancing at the target and Kakashi only 150 meters away. He moved into the alley, but to his horror, found it was already occupied.

"Well, well, well. Look wha we have 'ere," one of them said, a short, flabby, middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes. He took a draft of his cigarette, and Sasuke could tell by the sweet, sickly smell that he wasn't smoking tobacco. His companions laughed and leered at him.

"'Ey little boy," a scantily clad woman, wearing a large amount of eye makeup cajoled, "Come for a good time, honey?"

Sasuke made a disgusted face and glanced over his shoulder trying to determine how close Kakashi and the target were and how fast he could get out of here. This was his mistake. A strong arm grabbed him and forced him against the dirty wall. He struggled and made the instinctual grab for his kunai holder, only to realize that it wasn't there.

"Now, yer not all that bad te look at, little boy," another man said, this one much taller and with bigger muscles than Sasuke. He smelled of sweat and smoke, and the stench of it all made Sasuke lightheaded.

"Let. Go," he snarled angrily, Kakashi's words about not getting civilians involved ringing in his ears.

They all laughed at him and another man with dirty blond hair came up and grabbed him by the hair, forcing his head back and exposing his neck.

"Not bad, not bad," he leered, showing Sasuke his dirty yellow teeth and licking his lips, "'e'll be a good lay."

"Oi, hey now," an attractive woman with olive colored skin interjected, "Let 'im alone. If you wanna make some good memories, they why don't you cum over 'ere? You know," she said, winking, "double meanin' and all?

"Maybe later, sweetheart," the large man who had grabbed Sasuke said. And to Sasuke's horror, the man forced his legs apart and grabbed the back of Sasuke's thighs with dirty fingers. Ice-cold fear filled him to the brim and he lashed out with wild chakra throwing the man against the opposite wall of the alley, Sharingan eyes whirling.

"Ye little bastard!" the large man yelped, getting shakily to his feet, cursing all the way, "I'm gunna kill ye, and then…" he trailed off as he saw Sasuke's eyes.

Adrenaline flooded through Sasuke's veins and he drew a kunai from under his shirt.

"Get out of here," he snarled, shaking with anger," Now."

Sasuke had never seen anyone run so fast.

As soon as Sasuke was sure they were gone, he found it nessacary to act swiftly, as Sasumi had just bumped into the target.

"Watch where you're going!" the dark haired man whose picture Sasuke had studied only hours earlier shouted angrily, obviously in a bad mood. He shoved Sasumi out of his way and to the ground.

"Goddamn whore," he growled, "I don't know why you want to see this part of town, Hatake-san," he said contemptuously, "All there is is filth."

Sasuke had to physically hold himself back from tearing the man apart.

Sasumi muttered something and the emissary went white, then red with anger, and backhanded her in the face.

"What did you say to me?!" he said angrily, turning all the people in the area into spectators and ignoring Kakashi's plea to let the matter pass.

Sasumi lifted her head and stared unflinchingly into his eyes, "Traitor," she spat and pulled the hair tie out of her hair.

**By the time Sasumi had let down her hair, **Naruto no longer cared whether the emissary was a traitor or not. In fact, he was glad, because he now had a reason to tear the asshole to shreds.

When Naruto had first viewed the man from his place on the roof after Sasuke crossed the road, he noticed that the man looked angry. Sasumi had told him that it looked like Kakashi-sensei had had to really appeal the man to get him to show him around the district.

Now, Naruto thought as he launched himself at the man, teeth bared, he was going to pay. He attacked from the behind, colliding with the man's back, knocking him to the ground in a cloud of dust. A few people screamed and the man groaned.

"You piece of shit," Naruto growled, slamming his face back into the dust when the man tried to get up. A kunai was pressed to the emissary's throat and Naruto looked up to see Sasuke's red eyes glaring down at him.

"You're under arrest," Kakashi-sensei said in the coldest voice Naruto had ever heard him use, "for treason. I suggest you come quietly."

"What the hell is this?" the emissary grimaced, ignoring Kakashi-sensei's words, "Get your hands off me!"

"Like hell, you bastard!" Naruto grates out, "Why I oughta-"

"Uzumaki-san," Sasumi said monotonously, getting to her feet, "Please don't overdo it."

"Sasumi!" Naruto cried out, shocked, "The asshole whacked you! You think I'm not gonna make him pay fo-"

But before he could finish his sentence, his teacher hauled him off the man's back.

"What is the meaning of this outrage!?" the emissary said furiously getting to his feet, trying in vain to brush off his pristine white clothing, "I should have you locked up for this!"

Kakashi-sensei paid no attention to his words, took out a pair of chakra restraining handcuffs (though he needn't have considering the target wasn't a ninja,) and cuffed him.

"I said," the gray-haired man repeated, "that you're under arrest. Now come quietly or we'll have to knock you unconscious."

"You would dare," the man said, "How dare you! Do you know who I am? I demand that you let me free this instant or I'll-"

Unfortunately, exactly what the emissary would do to them would be forever unknown due to a sharp jab to the head, courtesy of Kakashi-sensei.

"Was that really necessary?" Sasumi asked, as they all put their forehead protectors back on and shooed away curious onlookers with the badges the Sand officials had given them.

"Well, he was being rather irritating," Kakashi-sensei said vaguely as he cuffed the emissary's feet as well.

"Not to mention he deserved it," Naruto added, feeling particularly smug.

Sasuke didn't say anything, which surprised Naruto. Usually, he would have had something insulting, and for some reason he looked disturbed.

"Oi, Sasuke, what's wrong?" Naruto asked him, slightly concerned.

"Nothing," the taller boy scowled, and deactivated his Sharingan, "Let's just get out of here."

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

In retrospect, it really wasn't anyone's fault. Tsunade-baa-san couldn't have known, because the Sand themselves hadn't known until after Team Seven had arrived. And even then, no one had told them that Team Seven should be informed, so they weren't warned.

Naruto would later think that they should have foreseen it. Emissaries weren't uncommon in the Sand, which had always had slightly less than stable diplomatic relations with other countries, especially in light of the past war.

The Chuunin exam was different, though, Naruto knew. The only ones who could've known had been wiped out before the third round, and even then, they were all around Sasumi's age and would've been too young to remember or be told exactly whom she was. Also, Sasumi hadn't participated in the final part of the third exam, in which nobles from every allied country attended.

But still, why did no one think, no one; not Naruto, not Sasuke, not Kakashi, not the Hokage, and not even Sasumi, think that there was the possibility that emissaries from the Rain would be there?

"Good idea," Kakashi-sensei said, "Let's go drop him off at the embassy jail and head back to the room."

"Huh? Jail?" Naruto inquired, "We aren't taking him back to Konoha?"

Kakashi-sensei shook his head, "Our mission was to figure out if he was leaking information to other countries and if he was, apprehend him. We just have to drop him off at the embassy and they'll send an ANBU team to pick him up and take him back to Konoha."

"Right," Naruto said, not completely sure if he understood, but didn't really care to ask again, "So, anyone up for ramen?"

"Absolutely not," Sasuke said, deadpanned.

"Shit," Naruto muttered, "What crawled up your ass and died?"

He nearly didn't duck Sasuke's fist, because usually it took more than that to rile Sasuke up enough.

"Okay, what the hell, asshole?" Naruto said, after throwing himself to the ground at the last second to avoid being hit, "What's your problem?"

"Nothing," was the cold answer.

"That's bullshit," Naruto growled back.

"Hey, why don't you two just stop for a second," Kakashi-sensei said tiredly, adjusting the traitorous emissary on his shoulder, "Save it for enemy nin."

"Not until he-"

"What's going on here?" a cold voice asked.

Naruto turned to see five Rain ANBU standing in the middle of the road. There were three men, two women, and they all wore light blue vests, black pants and were looking irritated. If Naruto wasn't too busy staring in horror at their forehead protectors, he would've noticed that all the people in the area had disappeared; even the most professional streetwalkers had slid away into darkening alleys, and shopkeepers had disappeared into the gloom of their decrypt stores.

They stood frozen there for a moment, the Rain nin looking expectantly at them, as if wondering why they were deigning not to answer their question.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, anything, to yell and distract them so they wouldn't recognize-

Too late.

Their eyes went from Naruto, to Sasuke, lingered on Kakashi and the unconscious man slung over his shoulder, and then finally to rest on Sasumi.

The man who had spoken did not appear to recognize her, however a tall blond man on his left, a brown-haired woman behind him, a black-haired man did. Their eyes widened, and the women's mouth fell open. The two men looked dumbstruck.

"The hell?" the woman said in shock, eyes the size of dinner plates, "You're-"

"Huh?" the man who had first addressed them said in confusion. The only distinguishing feature he had was a nose ring and a stud, and they repulsed Naruto for some reason.

"Modoka," the tall man snarled, and drew a kunai.

Time seemed to freeze. Naruto wanted scream, wanted to fight, wanted to do so many things, but he couldn't. All he could do was stare at the dawning comprehension on the faces of the Rain ANBU, and then the fury in their eyes.

He looked to Kakashi-sensei first. It was instinctual; the only adult there to look up to, their teacher and leader. The gray-haired man was face is blank. Naruto had seen the look before. It meant he doesn't know what to do. He glanced at Sasumi next. She had a strange look in her eyes. The sort of dead look that Naruto had seen before, but never with this intensity.

Strangely enough, Sasuke made the first move. He activated his Sharingan and looked the ANBU up and down coldly.

"Back off," he said boldly, drawing a hidden shuriken out of his pocket.

It was his anger that really throws Naruto off. He didn't understand how Sasuke could be angry. Naruto himself was terrified. He was so scared that they will take Sasumi away and torture her again and-

Naruto grabbed a kunai from its holster hidden under his shirt and pulled it out. Kakashi-sensei soon followed suit, the wayward emissary forgotten.

Sasumi didn't move.

"You're-" the brown-haired woman started, glancing at their forehead protectors "Konoha? All this time, she's been-"

Kakashi-sensei attacked. One swift jab and the woman fell unconscious, unable to finish her sentence. The tallest man roared in anger, drawing his wakizashi. Kakashi-sensei kicked it aside and landed a powerful blow to the man's chest, causing him to fall to his knees. It was amazing to see his teacher fight like this. The only other time Naruto saw Kakashi-sensei fight all-out was when he was fighting Zabuza; however, they were almost of the same ability, while here it was completely obvious the Kakashi-sensei was superior. The man with the nose ring leaped around Kakashi-sensei and went for Sasumi. Naruto launched a kunai at him, but the man dodged it. Sasumi drew her own kunai, eyes starting to darken, when Sasuke grabbed her out of the way and blew his trademark fireball into the ninja's face at pointblank range. The man appeared to dodge somewhat out of the way, but his screams proved that he hadn't been able to dodge the attack completely.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried, horrified at the stench of human flesh that began to permeate the area.

"I had no choice," the Uchiha snarled, but looked sick.

The smoke cleared to reveal the burnt ANBU shinobi. His other female teammate was attempting to heal him, and as Naruto and Sasuke stared on in horror they missed the final nin coming from their left.

"Watch out!" Sasumi yelled, and they turned toward the man, but there was no countering the blow-

Kakashi-sensei came out of nowhere, throwing an enlarged shuriken at the man forcing him to retreat.

"Run!" he yelled, keeping his red eye on the enemy, "Get to anywhere with Sand or Leaf shinobi!"

"Let's go!" Sasuke roared, and then the three of them were off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

"Shit!" Naruto swore, "We're being followed!"

The brown-haired woman had regained consciousness, and she and her black-haired teammate were gaining on them.

"What do we do?" Sasuke hissed, dodging a shuriken "They're ANBU, there's no way we can take them on our own!"

"**Split up!" **she said, an idea running through her panic-filled mind.

"What?" Sasuke said, eyes wide.

"That's ridiculous, Sasumi!" Naruto yelled summoning several Kage Bushin to distract their pursuers, "It's you they're after! They won't go after us!"

"Henge!" Sasuke shouted, ducking a flaming shuriken, "Good idea!"

"What?!"

"Change into Sasumi, you idiot!" Sasuke yelled, "And then we'll split up! There's only two of them! Kakashi can handle the other three!"

"Goddammit, confusing bastard…!"

All three of them dropped from the roof of a large store onto the dirt road, surprising a few geisha.

"Now!" Sasuke shouted and three Sasumis appeared.

"Now go!" Sasumi said, every inch of her self-control spent on not shaking or stuttering.

"Are you sure-"

"You won't get away!" the brown-haired woman yelled.

"C'mon, moron!" Sasuke snarled, giving one last worried look in her direction.

And then they were gone.

The two shinobi stared for a second and then swore. One chased after Naruto and the other after her. Sasumi sprang up onto another roof and ran for her life.

On and off rooftops sporadically, through crowds of annoyed people, and dodging around empty buildings Sasumi did everything she could to shake her pursuer. Nothing worked and she was running out of stamina. She leapt high into the air, intent on finding the nearest shinobi outpost when a shuriken grazed her good arm. She cried out in pain, grabbing at her good arm with her bad, doubling the effect and causing her to falls painfully back onto a rooftop.

"Now are you the real one, or not?" the man snarled.

Sasumi hissed, trying to get to her feet and backed up, only to find herself backed up into a hard, brick chimney. The only thing she could be grateful of really was the fact that her pursuer was not wearing a mask.

_"ANBU for two years," _she thought as memories that were not her own flashed by, _"In the Sand after escorting a noble for a diplomatic conference with the Kazekage, twenty-three years old, specialty is water element, special connection with Pein? Who is Pei-_

_Father standing over his mother with a belt_

_Mother dead_

_Blood on his hands_

_A slash on his wakizashi for every assassination_

_A woman with copper colored skin and strangely shaped ears snarling at hi-_

Sasumi's eye widened. Impossible! That was-

"It looks like you are! Scared, you bitch?" the man snarled.

She drew a kunai with shaking hands, hardly knowing why her bad, left arm was hurting her so much.

There was a poof of smoke to her right and the brown-haired woman appeared.

"You really are the real one then?" he smirked, advancing towards her.

The woman face contorted into a sick smile. What had she done with Naruto and Sasuke?

"Come on now," she said, in a mock friendly voice, grabbing the collar of her yukata, "You're coming with us."

These words jarred Sasumi into action and she spat in the woman's face.

"Dammit!" she swore, delivering the second punch in the face Sasumi had received that day so hard she saw stars.

Sasumi took the opportunity to grab a jutting out brick with her right hand and pull herself up, the kunai limply grasped in her left. A burning sensation in her eyes was the first sign of their color change.

"Leave. Me. Alone," she hissed out.

They both laughed, a cold, cruel sound.

"Just like you left my brother alone," the man snarled out.

Sasumi's eyes widened as she saw the resemblance between the man and-

**Pain in her ankle, fire burning, smell of burnt flesh, **_**her **_**flesh-**

**"Only you know it's secret! Now tell us!"**

**"STOP IT, PLEASE STOP I-"**

"Leave me alone with her," the man said to the woman, "I'm going to kill her slowly and painfully for what she did to my older brother!"

She frowned, "Are you sure? She did kill a lot of ANBU three and a half years ago."

He laughed, "If she still had that power, we'd be long dead. Now go and check up on the others!"

She gave him a worried look and then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

The black-haired man advanced, but Sasumi only saw his brother; a short, lean man with a cold smile and a penchant for burning things.

She lashed out with the kunai without thinking, fear making her irrational, cutting a deep cut in his neck. He staggered back, choking on his own blood and then falling off the roof with a thump. A perfectly executed killing…with only one setback.

Because in the end, despite all the training and years of using her good arm, Sasumi had always been left-handed.

Sasumi stared down in horror at her bad arm as warm blood poured down the sleeve of her yukata. It looked like someone had ripped away a huge chunk of her bicep, torn muscle and skin and veins sending torrents of white hot pain up her arm, and a clean, white _something_ sticking out of it all…

Sasumi screamed.

And what seemed like eons, or seconds, later, when Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and a boatload of Sand shinobi found her, clutching her mangled arm, kneeling in a puddle of blood; she was still screaming.

**A/N: Ewww…I know, you don't have to tell me, that it's nasty! Really, I never meant to make it so graphic. (Stares down at left bicep) Uggh…**

**Anyway, on a not-so lighter note, I'm sorry I lied, Gaara wasn't in this chapter, but he'll be in the next chapter for sure. **

**…so, review and I hope I didn't scar you all for life. **


	24. At Arm's Length

Chapter Twenty-Three-

"**She's under sedation right now," **a weary looking nurse told him, "But more importantly, I need to talk to you about her arm."

"What about her arm?" Naruto asked, eyes wide with fear, "Is it-"

"Naruto, let her talk," Kakashi said sharply, "Go on."

"We managed to staunch the flow of blood and align the remains of the bones, however I'll tell you here and now, there's absolutely no way she'll ever be able to move it, even with the slight mobility she had before."

Kakashi frowned at the statement, "What do you mean?"

"Well, the break was not a clean one. Not to mention all the muscle and veins she tore. It's a miracle she didn't bleed to death!"

"No, before," Kakashi said, "What did you mean by 'the slight mobility she had before?'"

The woman frowned at him for a second and then gaped, "You have to know," she said disbelievingly.

"Know what?" Sasuke asked, standing up from his seat at the waiting area of the hospital.

"About her arm. Before, I mean. There's no way the injury would have been so bad if her arm had been in normal condition at the time of the-"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked loudly, a confused look on his face.

The nurse stared at them for a few seconds, "Why don't you sit down?" she said, sounding drained, "This is going to take a while."

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other, him, and then sat back down.

"Alright, I don't how she hid it from you or sustained it in the first place. Though it doesn't seem that implausible considering the state of her…scars…"

"Torture scars," Naruto interjected, looking at the woman defiantly, as if daring her to comment.

She didn't, "Well it appears from the X-rays that this 'Yamaki Sasumi' sustained a break in her upper arm many years ago that wasn't treated properly, if at all. It healed the wrong way and the thousands of tiny fractures around it suggest she still continued to use it after the break. Though the pain would have been excruciating…"

"What are you saying?" his dark-haired student asked, "That she broke it and…"

"What happened this time," the woman continued, "is that there was significant amount of force applied to the arm, shattering the already weakened bone and ripping the muscle and skin around it," she paused, as if to let the news sink in, "She'll never be able to use it again."

Naruto gaped openmouthed at her, unable to speak.

"At the scene," Kakashi said slowly, unwilling to accept it, "It appeared that she had used that arm to kill another ninja." "Not Sand," he interjected at her expression, "They attacked us. Anyway, she cut off his head to be exact. Could that force be enough to do…that?"

"In a normal person it wouldn't be enough pressure even if they used all their strength," the nurse replied, "so she must have used chakra."

There was a pregnant pause, and Naruto exhaled deeply and slumped in his seat.

"Shit," he whispered, "_Shit_!"

"Do you…" the nurse asked hesitantly, "want to see her?"

Kakashi nodded, and they left the room filled with bleeding and coughing civilians and followed the nurse up two flights of stairs and through a long white hallway.

"He-here it is," the woman said, opening the door.

Naruto ran forward to her bedside and stared down at the red haired girl's form.

"She's so pale," he said finally.

Sasuke swallowed audibly and they all pulled up chairs and sat down.

Her arm was swathed in white bloodstained cloth with restraints and Kakashi was glad. He didn't want to see what it looked like.

They all sat there awhile, staring down miserably at Sasumi. Eventually Kakashi looked up at the clock and found it was four in the morning. They had been waiting in the hospital for more than eight hours.

"We had better go back," Kakashi said quietly, "Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Sasuke looked up furiously, "We are _not_ leaving without her."

"That's not what I meant," Kakashi said calmly, "There are things we must discuss. About Konoha's relationship with the Rain, after this and the Sand being caught up in the middle…" Naruto and Sasuke did not respond, "Two of them got away," Kakashi said harshly, "In a few days they will have reached the Hidden Rain Village and leaked the news of Sasumi's whereabouts-"

Unfortunately, he didn't get any further than that because the door to the room opened and the Kazekage, accompanied by three Sand ANBU walked in.

"Gaara!" Naruto said in surprise, looking up at the other red head.

Sabaku no Gaara's cold eyes swept over Sasumi's form and then over Naruto, Sasuke, and himself.

"Someone explain to me what happened here," he said quietly, eyes resting on Kakashi.

Kakashi swallowed and began.

"**I understand that," **Gaara said, feeling tired and irritated, "But you still have failed to tell me why five Rain ANBU on a escort mission would attack a team of Chuunin representing a village of their allies."

The gray haired man that Gaara remembered from the Chuunin Exam almost more than a year ago stiffened. Yes, Gaara had seen through his complex explanations and embellishments, and now he wanted answers.

'That's classified information," the man, Hatake Kakashi, Gaara thought, said after a while.

"In another situation," the Kazekage said calmly, "it would not have mattered. However, I suspect that this 'classified information' has everything to do with why there are two dead and one injured ANBU from the Rain on my hands and I demand that you tell me what is going on here."

The man gave no answer. Naruto looked between the two of them apprehensively and Uchiha Sasuke looked wary.

"I thought that might be your answer," Gaara said after a few seconds, "Which is why I took the liberty of asking the injured ANBU before coming here."

Hatake Kakashi's eyes widened and then narrowed, his hands turning to fists.

"We never meant to get your country involved in this," the Jounin said, "We didn't realize that there would be Rain here."

"I have heard the Rain's side of the story," Gaara said, "And to remain impartial, I would like to here yours. Tell me, why is Konoha harboring an S-Class nin?"

There was no answer.

"Power?" Gaara asked, "I must admit, a Kekkai Genkai like that would be extremely beneficial in both internal and external affairs of a country."

"That's not it!" Naruto said angrily, to his surprise, "We didn't know at first, but-" he paused, looking at the Sand ANBU who had escorted him here warily.

"Please leave us," Gaara said politely, and with curious glances at the Konohan ninja, they retreated.

"We only found out about it a few months ago," Naruto said, "And we can't just let them take her away because they'll kill her or-"

"Naruto!" the Uchiha interrupted.

"-I'm not afraid to say it, Sasuke-or torture her again! …So…that's why…we…"

Interesting, Gaara thought, scanning the girl on the bed again. It appeared Naruto's sentimentality had no boundaries.

"You must realize," Gaara said, "that this poses a great problem to our respective governments. From the way the shinobi I spoke to earlier made it out to be, it appears that the Rain feel quite strongly about this issue and it would not be at all outlandish that the result of the leakage of your teammate's identity could very well be…_war_."

Naruto jerked his head up and stared at him in disbelief and then turned to his teacher, "Is that true?" he demanded.

The man nodded.

Uchiha Sasuke's grip on the arm of his chair tightened.

All three of them were exhausted, Gaara could tell. They had been waiting for hours for news of this Modoka Sazumi.

"We will continue this when your friend wakes up," Gaara said, after a little deliberation, "Get some rest."

He turned around and left the room, ignoring the stutters of his obviously eavesdropping guards.

"You will not breathe a word about this to anyone," Gaara said seriously, looking both of them straight in the eye.

"O-Of course, Kazekage-sama!"

"We would never-"

There was a lot of work to be done, Gaara thought as he departed the hospital. He must get into contact with the Hokage and request her presence immediately. Gaara had no doubt that the Sand would side with Konoha in this time of strife.

"And it had been so peaceful," he said into the night air, the full, yellow moon hanging overhead.

But now he foresaw the ugly road of war drawing closer and closer.

**Pain. **It was not the first time that Sasumi had awoken to it and instantly she felt the urge to wretch. She opened her eyes and couldn't see anything but bright white for a few minutes. When her vision finally cleared slightly, she was looking up at an unfamiliar white tiled ceiling.

It was her arm, she realized after a trying to get up several times and failing, that hurt so much. It was not unusual that it hurt in the morning and when the weather was damp. But it was ten times worse than usual and there was a sudden spark of fear inside her that it had worsened over the night and she wouldn't be able to go on any missions anymore…

And then, in a flash, she remembered. The mission, the Rain, her arm, and the pain that had run through her, to the very core of her bein-

"Sasumi!? Hey, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei! She's awake! Hey, Sasumi can you hear me?"

Arm. What had happened to her arm? She remembered blood and bone and ripped, tearing- and it had hurt so much, she had just wanted to die and let it all go awa-

"Shit, Sasumi, we thought you were going to die! Don't you ever do that to us aga-"

"Give her space, you moron."

She couldn't move her fingers. Were they asleep? No. She pushed her right arm into the sheets, trying to brace herself and get up and see-

"Don't move! Sasumi, listen you can't-"

She let out a hiss of pain and then fell, warm liquid spreading up her left arm.

"Dammit! Nurse! Nurse!"

After a while the pain changed to a dull throb, but the blood was still there. Spreading into the sheets and through the mattress. But Sasumi was content to lay there and just breathe and pretend not her hear the yelling and talking of the people above her.

Then they were taking the white bloodstained cloth off, layer by layer and she watched, a horrible sense of dread filling her every time a blood stained piece was removed. And then she saw it. Her arm. Or what was left of it. It wasn't much of an arm anymore. Just a jumble of mixed up bones, repaired veins, and ripped muscle and skin.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Not by a long shot.

The part that scared her the most of all was the color of her skin. Her fingers, wrist, and lower arm were the palest shade she'd ever seen on a human being. The upper arm a few inches away from the main part of the wound was a sickly green. And around the edges of the mess itself, just a little bit, but plainly there, was black. The color of a dying limb.

"Oh no…" a nurse said, "Gangrene…"

Sasumi passed out.

When she woke, it was to the slow sounds of the electronic version of her own heart beat. She raised her head and found herself in the hospital. Fear coursed through her. It hadn't been a dream. That meant that her arm was really…

"Yamaki-san?" a unfamiliar voice said, shaking her from her reverie.

She looked around to find a light haired nurse with glasses, looking at her with an expression of pity and caution.

"Sasumi…" another voice said, this one quite familiar and she looked to her right to see Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi sitting there. It was morning now and she could hear the chirping of birds outside. When she was last conscious it had been night. Had they stayed the entire tim-

"Yamaki-san," the nurse said again, "There is something we need to talk to you about."

Sasumi said nothing. She knew what was to come, but she was afraid, terribly afraid.

"I-It's about your arm," the woman said hesitantly, "I'm afraid it won't…what I mean is that…there's no hope of it's recovery."

"What about our Hokage," Kakashi said, speaking for the first time, "Tsunade-hime, one of the legendary Sannin? If she could get here in time-"

"I'm afraid even she couldn't help at this point. Her arm's cells are dying. There is no way to revive them or even to stop it from happening."

"Wait…" Naruto said, looking terrified, "What exactly are you saying?"

"We have one option," the nurse said, steeling herself, "Amputation."

There was a long, terrified silence and Sasumi dropped head down and stared at her mutilated left arm.

"WHAT!!" Naruto shouted, breaking the silence, ignoring the shocked look of the nurse, "But there has to be some way of-"

"Get a hold of yourself, Naruto," Kakashi said so harshly that it shocked Sasumi, causing her to look up at him. There was a horrible look on his face of helplessness. Sasumi found herself hating it.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, her entire body gave a jolt; fear spreading throughout her body. She continued to stare down at her mangled arm with a strange sort of fascination. Skin, nerve, muscle, vein, cartilage, bone. That's all it was. It was crushed beyond recognition and repair, but it was hers! It was her arm! And she didn't want to part with it! It was her arm! It was…

Sasumi reached out with her remaining good arm and tentatively fingered the discolored skin of her upper arm, skipping over the wound to her stiff fingers. She traced everyone of them with a fingertip, registering with a horrible sadness that she couldn't feel a thing. She then, moved down to the sensitive skin of her inner wrist. For a few minutes she did nothing but feel her pulse. Then she looked up to see all the people in the room watching her nervously. She kept her gaze away from her arm. She would not look at it again.

"Alright," she said calmly, gesturing to the mess that used to be her arm, "Cut it off."

They all stared at her for a few seconds, the same look in their eyes. A look of confusion, pity, and fear. She had gotten used to this look over the years, but seeing it on the faces of her teammates struck something in her that she didn't like.

"Sasumi…" Naruto said weakly, "You…" He didn't finish his sentence and trailed off pathetically.

"Do it," she said, more harshly than she intended to, looking at the nurse.

_Before I change my mind!_

The woman seemed to gain more confidence and simply nodded. She strode out of the room, but Sasumi called her back.

"Wait," she said, good hand shaking with fear, "One thing."

All of the sudden it was difficult to talk.

The woman raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"No anesthesia."

"That's ridiculous!" the nurse cried out, "Utterly insane! Do you know how much it will hurt if you-"

'No-Nothing with needles of any sort," Sasumi said shakily, hardly even hearing the woman's protests.

"Sasumi, that's crazy!" Naruto cried out, "What the hell are you trying to-"

"I-I want to be conscious when it happens."

"What the hell?" snarled Sasuke, "Yo-"

"Stop it, both of you," Kakashi said calmly. He walked up to the edge of Sasumi's bed and looked her straight in the eye, "You have no choice. There's no way that you will be able to have it amputated without anesthesia."

Sasumi straightened her spin as much as she could and looked him fiercely in the eye, "If you even get close to me with a needle," she said pulling a kunai from under the sheets with her shaking hand, "I'll cut it off myself, here and now."

She heard the nurse gasp and Sasuke make an angry sound at the back of his throat. The kunai jerked unsteadily in her hand, sending a jolt through her entire body and causing her to bite her lip with pain. But she kept her eyes locked with her teacher's until they burned.

Finally, Kakashi sighed, and relaxed.

'You're not going to relent on this are you?" he asked her tiredly.

Sasumi nodded, and relaxed, sensing his resignation.

"I'm sorry then," he said and Sasumi had no time to react as his hand collided with the side of her head and everything went black.

When she woke up next, there would be a thick bandage where her left arm had once been.

**The nurse screamed and Naruto gaped as a dazed look came over Sasumi's face and she fell. **Kakashi-sensei caught the kunai and her before she fell off the bed.

"You better hurry up," he muttered to the terrified nurse, "Before she wakes up."

The nurse nodded shakily and left the room.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Sasuke asked angrily the minute she disappeared.

"Don't be foolish, Sasuke," Kakashi-sensei said tiredly, sliding back down into his chair, "She wasn't going to give in. It was the only way."

"That may be true," Sasuke said furiously, "But knocking her out seems a bit extreme. Do you have any idea how she's going to react when she wakes up?!"

Kakashi-sensei was spared from answering as three nurses including the old one wheeled a stretcher into the room. The carefully lifted Sasumi's limp form from the bed, and put her onto the stretcher.

"Hey," Naruto said, "Hey, where are you taking her?"

"The operating room," the old nurse told him kindly, "We don't have to right equipment in here."

"Can we come with?" Naruto asked anxiously.

They looked horrified at the prospect of it, "No, no," another nurse said, "We can't allow you to, I'm sorry."

Then they wheeled Sasumi off and the door banged shut.

"This sucks," Naruto said and buried his head in his arms.

Eventually, they were shuffled out of the room and Kakashi-sensei took them out to eat, though none of them were really hungry. They went back to their hotel room, but it felt strange and empty without Sasumi, despite the fact that she never really talked much anyway.

"This is ridiculous," Sasuke said suddenly after long hours of saying nothing at all. It was after dinner now and they were laying out their futon and Kakashi-sensei had retired to the bar downstairs.

"What's ridiculous?" Naruto asked, confused.

"She didn't even tell us," he said angrily.

"About what?" Naruto said, even more confused.

Sasuke turned around and looked at him, "About her arm! Are you an idiot!?"

"You mean about…" said Naruto slowly.

'What did that woman say? She broke her arm and it healed improperly, and she didn't even tell us!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto said, "I'm sure she had a good reas-"

"That's bullshit!" the Uchiha snarled, "And you know it. She's never told us anything she didn't have to! It's always been like that!"

"It's like…" Naruto said softly, "She doesn't trust us or…"

Sasuke slammed his hand against the tatami and Naruto had to look up to check that he didn't break it.

"Oi, calm down, bastard!"

"I hate this," the other snarled.

"You think I don't?" Naruto said, feeling insulted, "You think I like finding out that Sasumi's…her arm is _gone_, you know! She'll probably never be able to fight again! And Kakashi-sensei said two of those Rain ANBU got away! He said it'll mean war! I mean, I'm pissed too that she kept her mouth shut about it but there's more to it than-"

There was a soft cough behind him and they both looked to see Kakashi-sensei standing there looking slightly tipsy. Naruto was suddenly aware that he and Sasuke were both on their feet and they'd very nearly been shouting at each other.

"Err…Hey, Kakashi-sens-"

"Tsunade-sama's here," he said, looking exhausted, "Come downstairs."

Naruto swallowed and glanced at Sasuke, their previous disagreement all but forgotten. They walked down the rickety stairs and into the lobby. The old hag stood there, looking tired with several Konohan ANBU guards standing around her.

"Hey…Baa-san," Naruto said in greeting. And for once, the woman didn't scold (threaten) him for it.

"Come with me," she said, "We're having a meeting with the Kazekage in the embassy. We've got a lot to talk about. Your friend?" she asked delicately.

"Still under medication," Kakashi-sensei answered, "The hospital said she should be awake late tomorrow."

Tsunade nodded and muttered something to the guards who then disappeared in identical puffs of smoke.

"Let's go," she said, smiling sardonically, "It's going to be a long night."

**A/N: Ooh, depressing chapter. Yes, I did cut off Sasumi's arm. I bet none of you suspected that! **

**And you also found out what was wrong with Sasumi's left arm that has been going on for the last 22 chapters of this fic (God, it's long!) **

**Anyway, next chapter will be the huge meeting, Sasumi waking up and having to deal with Naruto and Sasuke, and her recovery. **

**Note: I do realize that the main cause of gangrene is infection, but I thought I'd just point out that infection isn't the only cause and in Sasumi's case it had nothing to do with the decomposition of her arm. With large injuries like hers the body can't even begin to recuperate and the cells begin dying regardless of whether the wound was infected or not. **

**Please review if you have any question or criticism!**

**P.S. To anybody who's wondering, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sasumi are all about fourteen at this point in the fic. **


	25. Fated Incision

Chapter Twenty-Four-

"**We haven't had any response from the Rain yet," **Tsunade said calmly, adjusting her low-cut haori surreptitiously, looking into the eyes of the thirteen year old Kazekage, "No communication whatsoever."

"They're most likely planning their next action," Sabaku no Gaara replied evenly.

"I suppose we should take advantage of this, then…" Tsunade said, almost questioningly.

The boy raised a nonexistent eyebrow, "I suppose…"

"We don't expect you to get involved in this…conflict," Tsunade said, taking another sip of sake and pushed herself back into the cushioned seat, fingers idly dragging over the tatami, "It would, however, be a problem if you chose to side with the Rain, assuming they take action…"

The ANBU seated behind her squirmed anxiously and the guards behind the young ruler of the Wind Country looked wary.

The boy gave a half snort of disgust, "I have no intention of siding with a nation less than one tenth the size of yours."

Despite the situation Tsunade couldn't help admire his honesty. It was much easier to deal with a person who obviously had the same regard for the deceptiveness and subtleties of politics.

"I have no intention of making some sort of deal involving the transfer of Modoka Sazumi over to the Rain," she said bluntly.

"Why is this girl so important?" one of the Sand's Council members asked.

"We have had an unsteady relationship with the Rain even since their civil war, decades ago," she answered, "Something was bound to happen sooner or later; the girl just happened to be the issue to start it. And I believe that we honestly can't afford to back down."

This comment caused several raised eyebrows, but nothing was said and there was a pregnant pause.

"Well…I guess that's decided," Tsunade said, surprised at how easily this had gone.

"Then it's decided," the child echoed and with a sweep of his robe, he was gone. "Brat," she muttered under her breath, stood up and left the room as well, her ANBU guard behind her.

"How did it go?" Naruto asked, leaping up the second she cam within view.

"Perfectly horrible," she told him, "Perfectly horrible."

"What?"

"Never you mind," she said grumpily, yawning obnoxiously, "Is your friend awake yet?"

"No," Naruto said, looking vaguely confused, "She's supposed the wake up tomorrow…"

"Right, then," Tsunade said, not really paying attention, "Go visit her."

"Huh? But-Hey we're you going?"

"To get drunk."

"…ohh…"

**Sasumi stared at the bandaged stub of her left arm in the mirror that the nurses had brought her. **It was so strange, how it felt. Her entire body seemed off somehow, much lighter on the left side.

"Yamaki-san?" her doctor said gently, "Are you alright?"

"If possible," she said quietly, "Could you leave me alone for a while?"

He swallowed, adjusted his glasses and left the room.

"_I can't believe it's gone…" _she thought, wincing as she trailed her fingers over the bandage.

But really, it wasn't like anything had changed. Her arm's condition had been steadily worsening ever since it was broken all those years ago. It would only have been a matter of time before it would have been impossible to move it. It was probably better this way, to get rid of it, before it got in the way of a fight and caused her serious harm. Or that was what she tried to tell herself.

On a whim she threw back the bed covers with her only remaining hand, swung her legs over the bed and hightailed out of the room. Sasumi managed to make it down to the main floor and out into a leafy rock garden that contrasted with the rest of the Wind Country before her body gave in. She flopped down on a stone bench to catch her breath and leaned against it. She felt unusually depressed and needed to see sunlight and breathe the outside air or she knew she would explode. It was cold, because the only thing she was wearing was a flimsy hospital gown, but it was much, _much_, better than being locked inside-

_-just like last tim-_

-and it was a beautiful day anyhow.

What would she do after this? She had never seen a one-armed ninja and she was not sure there were ninjutsu that can be done with one hand. Was this-is this just…it? Was this the end? Could she still continue working as a shinobi? What would she do if she could not? How would she survive? More importantly, what was left for her without being a ninja? How would she go on?

She looked down at the earthy ground and wrapped her arm around her scarred and burned legs. Sasumi absentmindedly rubbed at an indention in her left shin and trailed her hand over her blackened, toenail-less feet. What would they think of her, she thought derisively, if they could see her now? Maybe, if they could see her now, one-armed, burnt, scarred, and pathetic, they wouldn't even bother. She let out a sarcastic snort. They would just laugh and leave her to die.

She should go back inside, but she didn't. Soon, they would realize that she was gone and send out someone to find her.

But…

Sasumi frowned slightly and lifted her head up. It was almost assured that the Rain knew of her presence. And knowing the state she had left them and how violent they had been ever since that civil war more than thirty years ago…

They would want their revenge, that was for certain, whether they would be honorable enough to officially declare war was nor here nor there. Sasumi foresaw blood, destruction, and death that would come to place. And over what? A half-dead teenager with a broken bloodline? And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Unless…

Sasumi sat up straight, grabbing onto her red hair compulsively, tucking it back out of her face. If…if she was dead…it wouldn't solve the problem completely, the Rain would still be angry, but not as mad as if she died. She could go there, finish the job, and she would have to hope that everything would be solved. The ideal solution would be to simply hand herself in, but, call her selfish, she couldn't go through that again. She would rather die.

She was halfway up, when she realized that she could never go through with it. How on earth would she get to the Rain unmolested? It was too far and she was too weak in this state. She sat down back on the bench hard and tried not to scream. It seemed she really hadn't changed that much in six years. Still weak, stupid, and never, _ever_, learning from her mistakes.

Sasumi, tired of indecision and confusion, closed her eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep filled with dead faces and dark places.

When she awoke, half curled around herself on the bench, the sun had lowered considerably in the sky. She nearly had a heart attack when she realized for the second time that day that she had no arm, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Are you awake?"

Sasumi started, rearing up and smashing her back against the stone bench in a defensive position, her hand immediately going to her nonexistent kunai pouch.

Sasuke was standing a few feet from the bench looking calmly down at her despite her fright.

He looked perfectly calm, but Sasumi could tell he was forcing himself to look at her face, and her face only. Pretending her exposed scars didn't exist.

"People have been looking for you," he said impersonally.

"I fell asleep," she said coolly, stating the obvious.

She raised herself off the bench and walked toward the entrance of the hospital. She didn't know what Sasuke was angry with her about, but it was best to leave before a fight was started.

"Why didn't you tell us about your arm?" his voice came from behind her.

She turned around angrily, though part of her wondered why. She knew they would all ask her this. She knew. Maybe it was the fact she didn't have an answer that made her angry.

"That is none of your business," she said almost scornfully.

"Don't give me that nonsense," he replied, "Tell me straight up: You don't trust us at all."

"And what is that supposed to mean!?"

"Don't lie!" he said, anger beginning to show through his façade, "The only times you have _ever _told us anything about yourself were when you had no choice but to do so! And even then, how can _any _of us ever be sure that what you've told us just haven't been some elaborate _lie _you've made up!"

"What is wrong with you?" she replied, trying very hard not to scream at him, "You don't know anything about me. How _dare_ you try and fathom what might go through my min-"

"Then why don't you tell us!" he replied bitingly, "You know every single little _detail _about every one of us and we know little to nothing about you!"

"You think I _owe _it to you?!" she asked in disbelief, "You think that because of this decrypted bloodline, this-this _curse_, I owe you the little privacy I ever had? Do you think I like it?! Think I gloat over all the pathetic, half-witted _secrets _humankind possesses? Do you think I gave my left arm, _three years_ of my life being tortured, experimented on, chained to a goddamn _wall_ - for this!"

"Don't exaggerate this!" he snarled, "This is not about that! This is about your arm! Do you think we don't know about how much it would hurt for you to keep using it! Do you know how many tiny fractures you had in that bone!"

"And _what _exactly was I supposed to do about that?" she said frostily, "It took me a year to find Konoha. Do you think I could just waltz into a hospital after I escaped that _hell_?"

"You could have told us!" a voice came from the right and they both turned around to see Naruto standing on the low garden wall with his arms crossed over his too small orange jumpsuit.

"You keep out of this!" she barked out, so angry she wanted to cry.

"We can't do that!" Naruto replied, suddenly sounding sad instead of angry.

Sasumi opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it, realizing that she had nothing to say. She suddenly felt cold and wrapped her right hand loosely around her left stump of an arm. They were both staring at her with the same look on her face. She didn't like it. It scared her.

"You-you don't make sense, Sasumi…" Naruto said hesitantly, "When I was alone…before Iruka-sensei, gods, I'd have given _anything _for someone to ask if I was okay, or how I was doing…and, and Sasuke too! Well, he was better at hiding it than I was, but I'm sure after his parents…everyone died, he wanted someone to…" Naruto trailed off as if the rest of it was self-explanatory. It wasn't.

Sasuke did not agree with Naruto's statement, but he did not deny it either.

"Yo-you act like you don't _want _anyone to ask about you, or notice you. I don't-_We _don't understand why-"

"You've never been hurt like I have," she said, tired and not liking where the conversation was going.

"Don't talk like that," Naruto said harshly, "We've been alone too and-"

"Leave."

'-I know you've been hurting. You can't just try -"

"Leave!"

"-and push us away like that!"

"Leave me alone!" she cried, half in desperation, half in anger.

"We won't," Sasuke said simply, suddenly composed and calm again.

"I don't need anyone," Sasumi said, throwing her arm back, feeling trapped, "I have _never,_ _ever_ needed anyone!'

"Don't lie!" Naruto yelled, jumping down from the wall, "Don't you dare insult us by saying that you never wanted anyone to-"

"I had parents!"

It burst from her mouth before she thought about or could stop it. She could only keep going. Keep saying things she swore she would never talk about.

"I had them," she repeated, "and they weren't like yours."

Everything seemed a blur, it was so hot, and for some reason Sasumi wondered if she was in a dream and if she would wake up any time soon.

"They didn't die shortly after I was born," she said in Naruto direction, only half aware that Naruto didn't know who his father was, "And they weren't killed in a massacre. In fact, as far as I know, they're still alive."

There was silence and her chest heaved, sweat trickling down her temple in rivulets.

"And they betrayed me. Sold me out."

Her voice was not bitter, because if she was bitter, she would probably start to cry.

"That's all there is to it."

"Sasumi…" Naruto said, reaching out towards her. The only thing he knew how to do, she reflected.

"You should go back, Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san" she said formally, straightening up, "Now that you have established that I'm not hurt or-"

"You see!" Naruto yelled, startling both her and Sasuke, "There it is again! You being so…official! Impersonal! Like we haven't been on the same team for two years! Call me Naruto! Not 'Naruto-san' or some bullshit like that either!"

Sasumi opened her mouth and then closed it.

Naruto swore loudly and stomped his way out of the garden and disappeared around the corner of the hospital.

"You really should have told us about your arm," Sasuke said and then exited as well, leaving Sasumi to ponder the only time she ever got into trouble for keeping her mouth shut.

**It didn't take long for Kakashi to realize there was something odd about his team's behavior. **On their way home they hardly spoke to each other, and Sasuke and Naruto refused to tell him what exactly occurred after they found Sasumi, which was the only time Kakashi could think they would have a falling out. After a while, he simply blamed it on the combination of teenage hormones and rough situation they were in and decided not to pry. But it was odd; they were absolutely desperate and worried when Sasumi disappeared from her room (well, Naruto was, Sasuke just sort of frowned) and they returned sullen and angry.

Naruto and Sasuke sort of glance at each other and Sasumi strangely when he asked her to stay later after dismissing the rest of the team upon their return to Konoha, but neither of them said anything.

"I have something for you," he said, rummaging in his bag, pulling out a book. There was an imperceptible tick of her eye.

"It's not what you think," he assured her, almost insulted that she thought he would buy her…well…his kind of books.

She reached out with her remaining hand and grasped the book, inspecting the cover and flipping it open easily. Kakashi inwardly winced as he realized that she was probably used to doing everything with one hand, even reading.

"This is…" she said, her voice as close to wonder as he had ever heard it.

"One-handed Ninjutsu," he said proudly, "While it's pretty rare, it is possible to be a ninja and use ninjutsu with one arm. Because of the obvious danger to our profession there are actually quite a lot of ninjutsu you can do one-handedly. In fact, I've even heard of a rumor of a ninja with no hands, who…" he cut himself off before he started rambling, "Anyway, unless you want to retire, it would probably be a good idea to look at those."

His student blinked up at him and something flashed in her bright greens eyes.

Suddenly she bowed her head, "Thank you very much," she said softly, her voice filled with almost-emotion.

The next few days were quite strange. Asuma and Kurenai (who had recently been engaged, to his amusement) came to him in complete shock, telling him how their students had come to training saying that Yamaki Sasumi had lost an arm. Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino apparently had especially acted shocked and concerned. He gave them a slightly garbled version of the events in the Wind Country (excluding Sasumi's true identity, and the Rain's involvement, of course.) Other than the questioning looks that he was getting from his fellow Jounin that obviously questioned his teaching methods, he spent most of his time training aforementioned student.

"You can't just expect to be able to fight like you used to," he told her, "Your entire center of gravity is off balance and you're going to have to get used to it before you go on any sort of mission; yes, even the easy ones."

She nodded, wiping sweat off her brow and pushed herself of the ground, getting back into her stance.

"Ready. Set. Go!"

She leapt towards him and aimed a side kick for the side of his head. Halfway there, however, she lost her balance and fell to the ground for what must have been the fiftieth time that day. She grasped her bruised right arm tightly, picked herself up again, and drew a kunai, launching it at him. Kakashi caught it easily and threw it back at her without a thought. It was only when it nicked the stump of her arm that he realized that he had probably made a mistake.

She bit her lower lip, flipped backwards, and began to heal the wound quickly.

"Wait, timeout," Kakashi said, relaxing his stance, "What's wrong? You should have seen that coming."

She stared at him, "What do you mean?"

He frowned, "With your eyes, of course. What did you think I was talking about?"

"But that would be cheating."

"Cheating?" he could've laughed, but he didn't, knowing that she would take it the wrong way, "Sasumi, you don't have a talent to not use it. Especially now, that you're in a weakened state."

She nodded.

"Alright, then. Come at me again."

A few hours later, Sasumi all but collapsed and Kakashi forced her to stop for the day and continue tomorrow. She assured him that she was fine and that she would return home and rest as soon as she caught her breath, so he departed without her. However, on his way back to his apartment he caught sight of his blond student walking determinedly towards the training site where he and Sasumi had just been working. Kakashi blinked and then smirked. Perhaps, he could finally figure out what this standoffish attitude between his students was all about.

He followed Naruto back to the training area, and edged closer as he heard voices.

"You might as well take it, you know," Naruto says, holding out what appeared to be a water bottle to Sasumi.

The red-haired girl reached out and tentatively grasped the bottle.

There was a long pause as she drank.

"C'mon, Sasumi," Naruto said, grabbing her hand a pulling her up, "Let's go back."

Kakashi, slightly disappointed that he wasn't able to figure out what had happened, made his way back to his apartment.

However, the tranquility did not last.

At two in the morning he was awoken by several ANBU and immediately escorted to see the Hokage.

She looked as tired as he felt, and almost as drunk as he wished he was.

"Kakashi," the blonde-haired Hokage groaned, holding up a large scroll, "Do you know what I'm holding in my hand here?"

The world stopped.

"Is that-" he breathed and then stopped, too afraid to finish his sentence.

"This," she said, annunciating her words slowly, "is a declaration of war…from the Rain."

Kakashi closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.

**A/N: Yay! Hooray for teenage angst and drama! My favorite! **

**Anyway, I'm sorry this was late, I sort of skipped a weekend 'cause I was at Acen… **

**Next chapter will be the start of the war and probably more angst. (Not that that's anything new...) Please review!**


	26. Bellona's Pride

Chapter Twenty-Five-

"**We're low on shinobi," **the old hag said seriously, "So we have no choice, but to send all our forces."

There was a loud muttering that swept through the hall and Naruto glanced nervously around, tugging on the lapels of the Chunnin vest that he really hated to wear. They had all been assembled here about half an hour ago to discuss their strategies for the upcoming…well, war. It seemed hard to believe. Naruto was used to dangerous missions and encounters with incredibly strong opponents, but an all-out war…

They had called the Sand's attack on Konoha a war, but it wasn't one. Not really. Naruto knew that wars were long and brutal and could hardly end as nicely as the brief skirmish with the Sand did.

"I know that might seem over the top," the Fifth Hokage explained, "But I don't want to take any chances. I want this done and over with as soon as possible. I'm sure you all agree with me."

There was a loud murmuring of assent from the Jounin and ANBU around them. The Chuunin, especially the newly appointed, looked around nervously. The Genin looked terrified.

"She can't be serious," Naruto muttered, "Does she mean she's going to send _Genin_ to war?"

Kakashi-sensei shook his head, "It usually works like this; the Genin stay behind and guard Konoha and other cities, and Chuunin do low-level reconnaissance missions. Theoretically, Jounin and ANBU are usually the only ones who are supposed to do the actual fighting."

Sasuke glanced up at the grey-haired man, "So you're going to be…"

"No, I'm still the head of your team, so I'll stick with you."

There was a strange nostalgic look on his face for a few seconds, and then it was gone.

Naruto glanced worriedly over at Sasumi, who hadn't said a word since Kakashi-sensei told them about the Rain's declaration of war. Instead, she looked out dully in front of her and Naruto was getting worried.

As soon as the Godaime Hokage stopped talking (which Naruto hadn't really been listening to anyway) they left the crowded hall and Kakashi-sensei took them aside.

"Go home," he said, "Pack as many weapons as you can and two sets of clothing. Bring money, a water bottle, and some food."

Naruto opened his mouth.

"No ramen," Kakashi-sensei said and Naruto pouted, "Nothing that you have to cook. Eat full meals and get a lot of sleep," this was said towards Sasumi, "And meet me at six sharp in the town square in four days. Is that clear?"

"We've already got our mission?" Sasuke asked in surprise.

"Er…When you say six, do you _mean _six, or do you mean nine?" Naruto asked slowly.

Kakashi-sensei narrowed his one eye and Naruto gulped. Hey, it was a valid question!

"Six," he said and then disappeared into a puff of white smoke.

"What's his problem?" Naruto huffed in annoyance, "_He's _the one who's always late."

Sasuke made a disgruntled sound and makes his way towards his apartment. Naruto turned around to say something to Sasumi, but finds that she had disappeared. Naruto sighed. Nothing good could come of this. And he knew it.

The morning of the mission came all too quickly, and Naruto overslept. He woke up at 5:50 in a complete mess and barely made it to the town square before 6:30. Kakashi-sensei was actually on time (for once) and was not amused.

"Let's move out," he said and they did.

Sasumi had still yet to speak. He was sure that Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei had noticed this, but why hadn't they said anything?

But Naruto wasn't twelve anymore, so he kept his mouth shut and kept walking.

**Her arm hurt. **Or rather, the place where her arm had been was hurting. In fact, it felt as if her arm had never been amputated, but instead was burning. She had read about phantom pains before, but she had never expected them to be this bad. And of all the inopportune moments…

She really didn't know what to think about the upcoming war. Which was odd, considering she had foreseen it. But it was different now that it was really here and she was still struggling over her feelings on the whole matter.

One, people were going to die over her. It was inevitable. It wasn't like they hadn't before, but…this time they were dying _for _her. She didn't like that. Not one bit.

Two, it wasn't like she could just leave, give up, turn herself in. The Fifth Hokage herself had made no compromises in negotiations with the Rain, and Sasumi couldn't think of any reason _why_.

So here she was; off on some reconnaissance mission that lead to the ultimate destruction of her former country and she still didn't know what the _hell_ she was doing. It only made matters worse that Naruto kept throwing worried glances her way and Sasuke was still mad at her. And her arm would not stop hurting…

They stopped after nine hours and took a break. Kakashi consulted the large map for a long time while the rest of them caught their breaths and ate a part of their rations for extra energy.

"Are you going to explain the mission yet?" Sasuke asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Kakashi shook his head, "I'm not supposed to give them to you, until we're across the border."

This got Sasumi's attention.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, "We're already going in?"

Kakashi looked confused, "Of course, why do you think we waited four days before we started the mission. We had to wait for our main forces to engage."

"Wait!" Naruto exclaimed, "Are you saying that they're already fighting?"

"Yes…" Kakashi replied, "Tsunade-sama did say she wanted this done with."

"Why hadn't we heard this before?" Sasuke asked at the same time Naruto demanded, "Are we winning?"

"It's classified information, of course. They haven't released it to civilians and we haven't met for the past few days. How could you have heard it?" Kakashi still looked confused as to why they didn't know this already, "And Naruto, Konoha is more than ten times the size the Rain."

The blond blinked and Kakashi was forced to elaborate, "Yes, we're winning."

"But I thought size wasn't everything," Naruto complained.

Kakashi gave a snort, "Well, we all knew the whole 'size doesn't matter, it's how you use it' was bullshit anyway."

There was an awkward pause.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI YOU PERVERT!" Naruto screamed, quite red in the face.

Sasuke looked vaguely disturbed and cast his eyes around the forest nervously, as if embarrassed that an enemy could have heard him.

"Not so loud," their sensei chided, "Now pick up your stuff, we're going!"

"Y-you… you're so…!" Naruto seemed speechless (which was quite a feat.)

"Just shut up, Naruto," Sasuke said wearily.

"I hate you all," he muttered, "Except you, Sasumi! You don't make fun of me!"

Sasumi blinked at him and bent down to pick up her bag, barely registering his look of disappointment when she didn't respond.

She couldn't help feel that it was better that way.

"Alright," Kakashi said a few hours later, "Here's the plan. Our mission is to warn the main battle force if any other countries are going to interfere," he pulled out a map, "Alright," he said, "Here is the Rain. It is surrounded by us, the Wind, the Rock, the Grass, the Bird, and the former Whirlpool Country. The Wind is obviously not a problem, nor is the Whirlpool Country or the Bird, which at the moment have no ninja. The Grass and the Rock, however, could be. Both of them are our allies, but we've had wars with them in the past, and we don't know how they'll react. There has already been a team sent to watch the Rock, so we have been assigned to the Grass."

"Why weren't we assigned to the Rock?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kakashi hesitated, "Well, one reason is that the Rock are a much bigger country than we are. There was a Jounin team sent there. Just in cause." "And the other reason?" Sasuke asked shrewdly.

"Well…I am rather…well-known in that area," Kakashi said hesitantly, "Notorious really. I was part of a war we had with them about twenty years ago."

"Twenty years?" Naruto scoffed, "C'mon, Kakashi-sensei, you're not that old!"

There was a pause and Sasumi looked away.

"I mean," Naruto says looking nervous, "You'd have been really young…"

Kakashi ignored him, "We have crossed into the Rain now and we're going to travel to the border of the Rain and the Grass just north of their Hidden Village. Getting there will probably be the hardest part of the mission. Now, most of the Rain's ninja will be concentrated south of here, but we don't know if there are any or how many will be in this area. There will be no talking," he said seriously, looking over all of them, "I'll communicate to you by hand signals if I need to. Keep your eyes open. Are we clear on that?"

They all nodded and Naruto look at both her and Sasuke nervously, and then swallowed.

"Right," he said, "Right."

And so they began.

**Sasuke had been sure that Kakashi was overreacting. **They were in the middle of nowhere after all. The northern Rain appeared to be nothing but a jumble of mountains and pine trees. There were no villages at all, not even any sign of human life. Sasuke couldn't imagine why any ninja would be sent or voluntarily travel around here. Unless, there was an envoy being sent from the Rain requisitioning the Grass's help. Sasuke didn't know much about politics, but he knew that such a message was doomed to fail anyway. The Grass were too small of a nation to side with another small nation against a larger enemy. Now, the Rock, however, they could potentially be a problem.

Unfortunately, he didn't get much more time to ruminate on this, because, on the foot of yet another mountain, they were attacked.

"Incoming!" Naruto screamed and then there was a sharp pain in Sasuke's side. He managed to grab on to a tree before he fell in mid-jump. He pulled the shuriken out, hissing in pain and launched it back to his attacker. Up in the tree tops, Naruto was grappling with a masked woman and Sasumi was pulling out the kunai from her opponent. Sasuke winced.

Kakashi was…where was Kakashi? Sasuke spun around. Never mind about that, there could be more of them.

"You little bastard!"

Sasuke caught the kunai that was thrown at him and attacked. He threw himself at his attacker, who was also masked, and sent three quick punches to his chest. The man stumbled back, and with one quick motion Sasuke grabbed his arm and snapped it. He cried in pain and then disappeared in a familiar puff of smoke.

"_Shit!" _

Pain sliced through his upper arm, and he barely caught sight of his attacker. _"What the hell was that?" _Sasuke fell to the ground, clutching his upper arm which was bleeding profusely, _"Dammit, got to stop the blood…"_

He ripped off one of the bandages from his leg and wrapped it around his arm, dodging another blow from his attacker. Damn, he was fast! Sasuke made to punch him, but his fist merely connected with air and he was kicked down to the ground.

"Foolish child," the man snarled.

Sasuke counted to ten and then pushed himself up, rolling out of the way of a kunai.

"_One…Two…THREE!"_

"Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu!"

His opponent screamed and rolled on the ground to extinguish the fire. The second the fire subsided, Sasuke knocked him out with an efficient blow to the head. He tied the man's hands behind his back and his ankles together securely.

Breathing heavily, Sasuke turned and surveyed the scene to find that he was perfectly alone. He swore and tried to pick up someone's chakra. He felt something, but it was too far away to identify as one of his teammates. An enemy? He leapt to the top of a tree and jumped form branch to branch until he caught sight of a flash of red.

"Sasumi!" he called landing a few feet away from her.

She tensed and looked him over carefully. She was standing in front of another unconscious masked shinobi with a large shuriken sticking out of his back. Sasuke fought down the urge to wince this time.

"Where's Kakashi and Naruto?" he asked shortly.

She pointed to the west. He sighed, annoyed that she still wasn't talking and leapt off into that direction, the redhead following him at a distance.

It wasn't long before he felt an unusual chakra…it reminded him of…

Oh, shit.

Sasumi launched ahead of him and together they barreled through the treetops. Dammit, that stupid idiot, could he do thing right…

They reached the gray slope of the all misty mountain and Sasuke quickly scanned the area.

"Above us!" he told Sasumi and they began to climb, alternating between jumping from slope to slope and using chakra to get over the sharper edges.

Sasuke's only thought at this point was, _"How the hell did Naruto get _up_ there?"_

As they got closer, Sasuke began to hear sounds of battle and sound that suggested that Naruto…wouldn't look as he usually did when they reached him. And he was right.

Naruto's eyes red and he was in a crouch, surrounded by what looked red chakra. And was that a tail?

There were two bodies around him. One merely looked unconscious, but the other whom Sasuke recognized as the woman he had been fighting with earlier was leaning against a wall at the edge of the plateau, holding a huge gash in her abdomen and coughing out blood.

"Naruto, stop it," Sasuke said, swallowing.

The thing that used to be Naruto, turned it's head and looked at him like a starving man would eye a steak.

"_Shit! Bad idea!" _

"Don't provoke him, Sasuke!"

Kakashi leapt down beside him and Sasumi.

"Don't move," he said quietly, pulling a small piece of paper out of his pack.

Kakashi launched himself forward and flicked the paper towards the thing's forehead. The not-Naruto snarled, but then the red around it began to disappear and his eyelids began to lower. Kakashi relaxed.

Suddenly, they were wide open again and he jumped towards Kakashi with a speed that even the Jounin couldn't rival. Sasuke's eye widened in horror, waiting for the inevitable, but then Naruto was passing them and-

There was a splatter of blood and Sasuke turned around to see the man that he had burned and knocked unconscious. Naruto had broke his ribs, it looked like, and only then did Sasuke realize that the man had been aiming for Kakashi.

Before he could say anything, the man fell; but the momentum carried Naruto too far to the edge of the plateau. The last thing Sasuke saw was his eyes closing. And then Naruto fell.

"Naru-"

Sasumi was gone then, over the edge and he and Kakashi followed. To their horror, the fall didn't just lead to the hard ground, but a huge gaping hole that lead into nothing.

"Sasumi, don't-" Kakashi yelled as they hit the ground, but it was too late and she had already jumped in after him.

There was a strange smell, Sasuke thought, almost like-

"Water," Kakashi breathed, "She can't swim, not with one arm."

They locked eyes, made a silent decision, and jumped in after them. It was dark and cold and Sasuke shivered as they were plunged into cold water.

"Sasumi!" he shouted once he surfaced, "Naruto!"

"Sasuke! I see them, follow me," Kakashi said a little way in front of him.

Sasuke swam towards his voice until he could make out Kakashi's outline and then the edge of the underground lake. He could make out stalagmites and stalactites, and finally two forms huddled on the edge of the bare rock.

"Wake up," Sasumi was saying, slapping Naruto's cheeks, her voice hoarse for not talking for days, "Wake up, wake up."

How did she manage to drag him ashore? The water was deep and she had one arm…

"Sasumi, is he-" he asked dragging himself onto the rock, barely avoiding a stalagmite.

"Wake up," she said again, not hearing him, "Wake up, wak-"

Kakashi caught her hand and she slumped. The grey-haired man pressed his head to Naruto's chest.

"Alive," he whispered, "There might be water in his lungs, though."

As if on cue, the was a deep coughing sound heard and Naruto raised his head.

"Wha-" he coughed again.

"Don't move, Naruto," Kakashi said.

"I can't see!" Naruto said, sounding panicked.

"That would probably be because it's dark," Sasuke told him, "Of all the places you had to fall in, you dumbass."

Naruto merely let out a cough and then made a surprised noise. Sasuke peered, and saw that Sasumi had grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"_Never_,_ ever_, do that again," she said, "Alright?"

Naruto let out a choked laugh, "Deal," he said, his voice almost as hoarse as hers was.

Once they successfully climbed out, Kakashi decided to interrogate the attackers.

The previously masked man whom Naruto had successfully stopped from killing his teacher was the only one still conscious, but he wasn't cooperating.

"Why are you here?" Kakashi asked again, "Answer me!"

But the man merely narrowed his eyes in dislike and glared over at Sasumi.

"Typical," he snarled out, "You choose one of them monsters again."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Sasumi said in a cold tone.

"He's just like _her,_ isn't he? That demon bitch who-"

There was a flash of red and a crack and Sasumi broke the man's nose.

He cried out and she fisted one of the lapels of his vest.

"You say another word," she breathed, "I kill you."

They all stared at her, until she let him fall to the rock ground.

"They foresaw this mission," she said, "That's why he was here."

Kakashi nodded and they moved out.

"**Ten deaths and forty-three casualties so far," **Genma reported, "And-you're going to love this- the Hidden Village is under siege."

Tsunade's head snapped up, "Already?'

The man smirked, "It appears we overestimated them."

"That's good," Tsunade said distractedly, "Real good. Um…tell them to keep up the good work."

"Is there something the matter?" he asked, apparently confused by her lack of enthusiasm.

"Just thinking…" she murmured, "Actually, can you get me another bottle. I'm out."

He grumbled something about wishing he was sent to war, but left, leaving Tsunade to her thoughts.

She was too under-qualified for this. She didn't know anything about waging a war. And to make matters worse…

_-Flashback-_

"_Are you sure there isn't anything else?" Tsunade asked the girl again. _

_They had been in her office for more than four hours, in which the Modoka had told her all the things she could remember about the inner workings of the Rain._

"_No, I can't…" the redhead replied, "I can't remember anything else."_

_Tsunade nodded, "Thank you. You've been an invaluable help."_

_The girl shrugged, "They could have changed half of it over the years." _

_But she rose from her seat and opened the door to leave. The she froze and turned around._

"_Yes?" Tsunade said, picking up the pen again._

"_I…there's…" She appeared conflicted, "The Rain has a jinchuuriki."_

"_WHAT!" Tsunade gaped at her._

_This changed everything. What would she tell her loyal shinobi going to battle? _

"_Yes," the girl said, "Female, tall, dark skin, brown eyes. She has strangely shaped ears…pointed and purplish colored hair."_

"_Which one?" Tsunade asked praying that it was a low tailed demon._

"_The Rokubi."_

_Tsunade closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Name?"_

"_Sekihara Yuuki."_

_-End of Flashback-_

**A/N: Okay, I've got it all figured out. There's going to be about four/five more chapters after this. It's so sad, Shi no Me is almost over… **

**Anyway, next chapter will be the takeover of the Rain and you'll get to meet this mysterious Sekihara Yuuki! So, please review!**

**p.s. Kudos for anyone who understands the chapter title! **


	27. Into the Inferno

**A/N: Before you start the chapter I have put this note at the beginning so you're forced to read it. Mwahahahahaha! **

**Beware, this is a product of a bored mind. Anyway, name meanings of all my OCs and kanji! (Because I have no life…) Not like any of you actually care, but hey, I said I was bored. **

**The amount of time I put into this is_ depressing_****. Do not ask. For your ofwn sake. Here we go! **

**Note: Beware the symbolism!**

山木 (Yamaki)- Mountain tree.

サスミ (Sasumi)- It doesn't mean anything because it's a made up name.

戻禍 (Modoka)- Returning misfortune.

授三 (Sazumi)-Blessed thrice.

石原 (Sekihara)- Stone Field.

勇鬼 (Yuuki) Courageous Demon.

花蛇 (Hanada)- Flower Snake.

美智子 (Michiko)**- **Beautiful Wise Child

**And onward to the chapter!**

--

Chapter Twenty-Six-

"**They have breached the outer wall, Pein-sama**. It won't be long before they-"

"Silence," the orange haired man replied.

The messenger shook with fear, but did not dare get out of his kneeling position.

"Then you know what we must do," Pein said, face engulfed in shadow as always.

The eavesdropper behind the half open screen door shifted uncomfortably.

"B-But, Pein-sama!" the messenger said, aghast, "If we leave, all our resources and data will be lost!"

"We have no choice, fool," the man replied, "I will not risk _Konoha _getting a hold of our secrets. We must leave before midnight. Understood?"

"Y-Yes…of course…"

The eavesdropper did not need to hear anymore. She crept quietly down the oaken floor and slid out a small window. Abandoning caution, she ran up an earthen slope, pulled up her hood, and walked quickly down the path between deserted shops. It was dusk now and she made her way to a rundown looking tea shop, sliding inside, the bell attached to the door jingling softly as she went. She adjusted her forehead protector, but did not take off her sandals as she stepped up to the counter. The old man jumped as she took off her hood and swallowed audibly.

"C-C-Can I he-hel-" he stuttered.

"Where are they?" she asked rudely, sliding a dark skinned hand into her cloak and pulling out a small piece of paper with a complex floral symbol upon it.

"Y-You?" he said in confusion, "_You_ are one of-"

But the eavesdropper's patience ran out before he could even finish the sentence. She grabbed the front of the man's haori and pulled his face close to hers, slamming him against the counter that separated them.

"Finish that sentence," she snarled, looking feral, "And I kill you. And if you don't tell me where they are, I'm going to also kill you. Understand?"

"T-The b-basement!" he breathed, "P-Please don't kill me! I-I have a granddaughter to tak-take care of and-"

She threw him back against the wall, causing a jar of tea to break, "Shut up," she spat.

She walked past him to the back of the shop, idly tucking her strangely colored bangs behind even stranger ears. Opening the worn door, she heard voices at the bottom. She shut it and walked down the steps without stealth. The voices trailed off as she rounded the corner.

There were five of them, sitting around an old tables that had probably been used for grinding tea leaves, judging by the stains. They were all men and all older than her, but they were _all_ incredibly terrified of her. She removed her cloak.

"Pein will not stand with us," she told her fellow shinobi bluntly, "He is leaving tonight."

The men looked at one another in horror, but soon remembered who was standing in the room with them, and quickly turned their attention warily back to her.

"Why?!" one of them asked angrily, "With his help, we could defeat them! Why will he not-"

"He is a coward," she said, "We don't need him."

They looked at her in disgust.

"You don't understand!" the youngest of the men said almost hysterically, "Without Pein-sama's power we are doomed! Konoha with _crush _us and-"

The dark-skinned girl silenced him by a blow to the jaw, shattering it.

"Now see here, girl!" the first man cried, "You cannot just-"

"_Don't_ presume to tell me what to do!" she snarled, and for a second, claws seemed to replace her human fingernails, "He is a traitor. A traitor and a coward." She let out a mocking laugh, "You are all cowards!"

"You fool!" another said, "Do you not understand the magnitude of the situation?!" His tones turned ugly, "Or is the truth to large for the mind of a _beast_?"

She threw herself at him, pupils turning into slits, intent on ripping out his throat.

"Stop!" screamed the senior of the group, and she was dragged up by the lapels of her Jounin vest.

She pulled herself free, her eyes slowly fading back to their normal brown.

"Cowards!" she said angrily, "What will you do, then? If you don't have your illustrious _Pein-sama_? Hide? Run? Betray our secrets to the Leaf?!"

They did not answer, but instead cowered at her tirade.

"You _disgust _me!" she hissed and turned on her heel.

She made her way back to the front, tying up her hair in a high ponytail. They were idiots, all of them. Sentimental fools with no bravery or loyalty to their country. They would pay when this was all over. Konoha would not win. They _could _not win. And if it came down to it, she would kill them all herself.

She climbed up the steps to the top of the turret. The last barrier between Konoha's forces and the center of the hidden village.

"You're late!" snarled the shinobi on guard duty, whom she was supposed to be relieving.

She straightened and walked into the faint light of the paper lantern. The ninja immediately paled.

"Y-You! I-I did not mean-" he stuttered.

She silenced him with a look.

"Any movement?" she asked, peering out into the darkness.

"N-None so far…I think they are trying to starve us out."

She looked at him and he flinched noticeably. How weak.

"Get out," she told him and he did.

Sekihara Yuuki leaned against the stone walls of the tower and scanned the forest before her carefully. They would bring all their forces before their walls soon, Yuuki knew. They thought they had won already, but they were wrong. It, however, was the only good thing about this war. With all their nin, came Modoka Sazumi.

And Yuuki was going to _slaughter_ her.

"**That's impossible," **Naruto said in awe, staring at him, "It's over _already_?"

Kakashi sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you? Tsunade-sama said she wanted it done with quickly."

"Still," Sasuke said, "It's so fast. We've only been here three weeks."

"Are we going in then?" Sasumi asked quietly.

"Let me clarify something," Kakashi said seriously, "I wouldn't say the fighting is over," he glanced at Naruto, "They're under siege at the moment. Once we enter the village, there could be more fighting or they could give up completely. With the Rain, it's probably a fifty-fifty chance."

Naruto nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Are we just going to stay here, then?" Sasuke said dubiously.

Naruto frowned, "Aww, you mean, all the Jounin and ANBU are gonna do all the work?!"

"No," Kakashi replied, to their obvious surprise, "We've been ordered to meet our battle forces at the front."

"We're going to fight!" Naruto said excitedly.

Kakashi paused, unsure how to proceed, "Technically, no," he answered truthfully, to their disappointment, "We're being sent for reserve use only. However, the likelihood of you fighting is…very high."

At this he expected Naruto to cheer or do something in that vein and therefore was surprised when Naruto looked serious.

"Good," the blond said.

"Hurry up, then," Kakashi said and they all packed their things away, Sasumi with some difficulty.

She was deathly pale. Kakashi wanted to say something to her, but the words would not come. He knew he could not say anything to make it better. He had never been in her situation, returning home after all these years and all those scars…So, he kept his mouth shut. Sasuke seemed to notice as well and kept throwing her glances. Naruto surprised him the most, though. He had a determined look on his face that made Kakashi shiver. It was so similar to his father's that it hurt.

"Uzumaki-san," he heard her whisper, a few hours later, when they had moved a great distance south.

"Yeah?" Naruto replied, dumping water onto his head, "What is it?"

"I should have told you this earlier…" the red-haired girl hesitated, "But, you…shouldn't use the Kyuubi's power."

The was a pause and Kakashi stopped pretending to read the newest volume of Icha Icha Paradise and glanced over at Sasuke, who didn't seem to be paying attention. For a second, Kakashi wondered if Naruto was insulted.

"Oh, just that?" Naruto said cheerily in a carrying whisper, "Ero-sennin already told me that!"

"But…just don't, okay…?" she still sounded worried, "Not only because of the control issue, but…"

"What is it, Sasumi?" Naruto asked, suddenly serious again.

Kakashi could not see her face, so he assumed she had an expression on her face. That certainly would cause surprise.

"You might…you might become a target," she mumbled and Kakashi frowned. Was she talking about the other jinchuuriki that the Rain was apparently in possession of or…something else?

Naruto looked confused and opened his mouth to question her, but Sasuke interrupted.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked in a slightly suspicious voice.

"Nothing," Naruto said casually, "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, are we gonna sit here all day?"

"Hmmm…" Kakashi said, "I suppose not. Alright, let's go."

They traveled a few more hours and then set up camp and the middle of the forest. Kakashi took first watch and leaned against the trunk of a tree, still reading his book. Naruto fell asleep first, then Sasuke, but Sasumi was still up. She was flipping through the book of one-handed jutsu he had given her by firelight.

It was funny. Two years ago, Kakashi had merely been annoyed by the prospect of being assigned another team and was certain would fail his test. But now…well, he was rather fond of them now. His crazy eye color changing team with psychological problems. Kakashi sighed. He feared that the next few days would only create more problems. Particularly in Sasumi…

**Unfortunately, **by the time they reached the Hidden Village it was over. It wasn't that Naruto was particularly eager to engage in warfare, but he felt that…well, he should be doing something useful. The past three weeks had probably been the most uneventful in his entire life. Doing nothing but staring at the border between the Rain and the Grass was not pleasant. And though Naruto liked fighting, a war wasn't something you took lightly. But still, he had wanted to help and now it was over.

The Village of the Hidden Rain stood on raised ground, making it look more impressive than it already was as they walked up to it. It had an outer wall _and _an inner one, turrets, culverts, ramparts, and tiny windows etched in the rock for launching kunai out of. It seemed that the Rain had been geared for war long before Konoha had ever came along.

And it was pouring. Of course.

They walked up to the gates and while Kakashi spoke to the tired but triumphant looking ANBU guard, Naruto looked back at Sasumi. She was several paces behind them and was looking up at the outer wall with an odd expression on her face. Naruto couldn't decide what it was. It didn't look scared or angry or sad. It was…odd.

She just stood there, soaked to the bone and looking up at her old home, the empty left sleeve even more conspicuous as usual.

"Sasumi?" Naruto asked cautiously.

She blinked and shook herself as if out of a dream.

"Are you alright?"

She stared at him for a few seconds. In the meantime, Sasuke had turned around and was frowning in her direction, worriedly. Something only Sasuke could pull off.

"Fine…" she said after a while, "Just…It's nothing, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto let out an exaggerated sigh, "Are you ever just going to call me 'Naruto?'"

Sasumi did not say anything, but he thought he saw a ghost of a smile on her face.

"C'mon," Sasuke said, as the huge gates creaked open and they caught their first whiff of the hidden village Sasumi had been born in, "Let's go."

Naruto would never forget the look on Sasumi's face.

"We shouldn't be here," Sasuke muttered, glancing at their red-haired teammate, "Not with her."

Naruto felt foolish. He should have known, should have realized. Should have thought more about what going into the Rain would mean to Sasumi. But no, he had been selfish and moronic. Self-disgust filled himself for a second, but he pushed it away. There was no use brooding about it. What was done was done.

They walked through the first set of gates and then the second. Sasumi's face was blank.

They were informed about the situation briefly, but Naruto was hardly listening. The statistics went through one ear and out the other. He was watching, Sasuke was watching. As they walked to the hotel they would stay for the night, Naruto realized he wouldn't know what to do if Sasumi broke. He was terrified by the inevitability of it all. And she had worried about the Kyuubi! Naruto wondered why she always did that. Focus on anything, anyone but herself. But after thinking about it, he thought he knew why.

It probably hurt too much to think about herself.

The second they entered their room, Sasumi ran to the bathroom and retched. She spent most of the night there, throwing up until there was nothing left in her stomach and all that could be heard were her chokes on nothingness.

**Sasumi was in hell. **In hell. She was sick, so sick and everything was coming back. Every single detail, even the things she hadn't remembered before. The stuff she'd blocked out, forgotten, because remembering would be too painful. She wanted to scream, destroy something, kill someone. She had never wanted to be back here. Never, ever, ever.

She wanted to run away, but she couldn't. If she ran, they would follow and lock her up again. So Sasumi did not move, did not think, did not _feel_. Being safe, impassive, was impossible at this stage. But she would try her hardest, because that even was better than nothing.

Sasuke and Naruto were worried. Sasuke hid it better than the latter, but Sasumi could see it in his eyes. Both of their eyes.

Just being back ate away at her slowly and painfully like acid. Every building, every street, every landmark that she recognized brought a wave of dark images and feelings with them. She ate little, and slept even less. Just one hour more, she told herself, over and over, just one more hour. If I can stand one more hour everything would be alright.

Sometimes ANBU would come and ask her questions, show her pictures of buildings and people. She didn't recognize most of them, but they seemed to appreciate the effort anyway. They didn't complain at least.

Then, three days-_only three-_passed, and Sasumi woke for the first time in a long time to someone shaking her instead of nightmares.

Terrified, she grabbed at her left hip for the kunai holster that wasn't there, but her hand was intercepted.

"Stop that," Sasuke hissed, and she suddenly became aware of the noise coming from outside, "There's been a revolt. Hurry up!"

Sasumi rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and grabbed her shirt, yanking it over her head with difficulty. She had fallen asleep in her shorts, undershirt and bandages. All she needed were her weapons now and she grabbed them with haste.

They went out of the window, one by one and Sasumi smelt smoke immediately. Lots of buildings were on fire and people were screaming.

Suddenly, everything seemed to slide out of focus and Sasumi was-

-_trapped in a room with no windows, red hot pokers burning into her arms-_

"Sasumi?" Kakashi said in a angry voice, "What are you doing? We have to-"

_- "Tell us!" they asked, "Tell us! Or we'll make you wish you'd never have been born!"-_

"Sasumi…?" Naruto's voice sounded panicked, "Kakashi-sensei, something's wrong! She's-"

_-I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNO-_

Everything went black.

But, when she woke again, the nightmare was not over. It was still dark and the air was still tainted with the faint smell of smoke. She pulled herself into a seated position easily and found that she had been lying outside, in a sort of cavity between two buildings. There was a figure…?

"Sasumi?" Sasuke said, moving closer, "Are you alright?"

"What happened?" she rasped, "Where's-"

"They went ahead," Sasuke said. He looked tired. Sasumi guessed she must have been out for a while.

"What are you doing?!" Sasuke asked in surprise as she stood up shakily, "You shouldn't be…"

"I'm fine," she managed to say.

He did not look convinced, "Sasumi you just passed out for no apparent reason. There must be something wro-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

There was a silence between them. A few screams were heard from the distance, but they were ignored.

"Oh," Sasuke said simply and Sasumi knew he understood.

Suddenly, his eyes went wide. He shoved her out of the way and three kunai hit the spot where she had stood a split second ago. Sasumi fell hard and then swung around, jumping to her feet and scanning the area for the perpetrator.

"Left corner!" Sasuke hissed and they both dodged they next array of weapons.

"He's over there!" Sasuke yelled, apparently throwing caution to the wind and leaping for the top of another building.

He hurtled towards their attacker, Sharingan eyes spinning. Sasumi followed, but as soon as she caught sight of their target, everything seemed to fall away.

It was not a he, as Sasuke had assumed. It was a girl, two years older than herself and Sasuke. She had olive colored skin, brown eyes, strangely colored hair, and pointed ears. The key sign of her standing as a jinchuuriki.

Sasumi was hardly aware of her hand, that had grabbed Sasuke out of the way and pulled him back.

"What the hell are you _doing_?" he snarled at her as they landed back on the ground again, below their attacker.

He made to attack again, but Sasumi put her remaining arm out to stop him. She stepped forward.

"It's been a long time," she said gently, "Yuuki."

The girl above her did not return the favor.

"Modoka Sazumi," she said disgustedly, fangs lengthening as she spoke, "I'm going to _butcher_ you."

**A/N: Oh, c'mon, you knew I had to stick another cliffhanger in before it ended. Anyway, believe it or not, you have just survived an unbeta-ed chapter of Shi no Me. Scary, huh. Yeah, my beta is out of town and I don't feel like waiting. So there. I also apologize for the name meanings. I just had so much fun looking them up…**

**Also, something you should know. The whole next chapter will (probably) be a flashback. So don't be too surprised. **

**Er…that's all I really have to say. So review!!**


	28. Genesis in a Rainstorm

Chapter Twenty-Seven-

_"Okaa-san?" Sazumi asked, "Okaa-san, will you listen to me play? I've been practicing." _

_She held out her bamboo flute and looked hopefully up at her mother._

_"How cute," one of her mother's friends exclaimed, "Why, she's adorable!"_

_The woman reached out to pinch her cheeks, but Sazumi moved away. She did not like her mother's friends. They were noisy and smelled bad. When they were around, her mother never paid any attention to her._

_"Not now, child," Sazumi's mother said, "You're five, aren't you? That's old enough. Go outside, you're such a bother."_

_"I'm six," Sazumi said slightly resentfully, but her mother was not listening, but had instead gone back to laughing and talking with her friends. _

_Sazumi did not go out, but instead went to the opposite side of the house. She slid open the door to her father's study._

_"Otou-san?" she asked, "Will you listen to me pla-"_

_"Not now, Sazumi," he said, not even looking up from the document he was looking over, "Go ask your mother."_

_"She was talking with all those other ladies."_

_"Your tutor?"_

_"Sensei only comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Otou-san."_

_"Go outside, then."_

_Sazumi swallowed and did as she was told._

* * *

_"Leave us alone!" her parents yelled at the same time and Sazumi knew better than to argue._

_Her face fell and she left the house. She did not cry as she walked through the mostly deserted streets. Crying was bad, she knew. Modoka were not supposed to cry. Instead, she chucked her flute at an empty bench and screamed. The sound echoed around the village and Sazumi flopped down on the bench and screwed up her face in despair. _

_She was never going back, she thought irrationally, never, ever, ever. _

_However angry she was, it didn't last long. The sun began to set and the night's chill began to set in. Twilight came and Sazumi started to become frightened. Suddenly, there were angry voices in the darkness and she stifled a soft cry. They sounded like angry adults shouting and Sazumi cowered. _

_"…ere did she go?"_

_"You idiot, why did you let her get away?"_

_"Damn demon!"_

_"She has to be around here somewhere! Spread out!"_

_Sazumi let out a squeak of fear as a dark shape ran past. It stopped, and in the dim light, could see that the person was staring at her. Sazumi griped the flute convulsively._

_"What are you doing?" the shape hissed. It had the voice of a girl, "They'll find you if you hide there!"_

_The girl grabbed her by the wrist, and then they were running through dimly lit alleys towards the outskirts of the village._

_"Where are we going?" Sazumi squeaked._

_"My hiding place," the girl answered, "We're almost there."_

_The girl pulled her to the side of a large building and with a swift motion, unlocked a door that Sazumi hadn't even noticed. She was pulled into total darkness for a heart stopping moment and then the other girl turned on a light. _

_The other girl grinned and Sazumi observed her shyly. She was a lot older and taller than her, and had weird colored hair. Her skin was a pretty dark color and her brown eyes seemed mischievous somehow._

_"Hi!" the girl said, oblivious of Sazumi's discomfort, "My name is Sekihara Yuuki and I'm eight years old!"_

_"Pleased to meet you, Sekihara-san" Sazumi murmured out of habit, bowing her head slightly._

_She was slightly intimidated by this older girl. She looked around and found that they were in a storage room of some sort, packed with shelves of boxes. In one corner, their was a worn looking futon and a bunch of old clothes._

_"What's your name?" Sekihara-san asked, smiling._

_"Modoka Sazumi."_

_"Sasumi? That's a funny name." She giggled._

_Sazumi felt her cheeks flush, "Ah, no, it's Sazumi. Not…what you said." _

_"Really? Sasumi sounds better! I'm gonna call you that, okay?"_

_It was not okay, but Sazumi could hardly tell her that. She was older than her after all. So she merely nodded and tried not to cry. _

_"Hey, Sasumi, why are you wearing that weird thing?"_

_Sazumi thought this was unfair. The other girl's clothes were old and tattered. She was the one who was wearing weird stuff._

_"It's not weird," she muttered, tightening her green flower patterned kimono, which had almost completely come undone from the running._

_"It's old," she said laughingly, "Are you part of one of those old ninja clans? I think I've heard the name Modoka before."_

_"No," Sazumi said, "We're a clan, but we're not shinobi."_

_"Oh," Sekihara-san said, looking disappointed, "I want to be a ninja."_

_"Huh? Why?" Sazumi asked before she thought better of it._

_"It'd be awesome! I would get really strong and could fight in huge battles. Then no stupid grownups would chase me anymore!"_

_"I think it's scary," Sazumi said bravely, "Why were those people chasing you?"_

_"None of your business," Sekihara-san said crossly, "How old are you anyway?"_

_"Six."_

_"Ha, I knew you were younger than me!"_

_"I want to go home," Sazumi said in a small voice._

_"Well, you can't," Sekihara-san said superiorly, "Now that you know where my hideout is, you can never leave!"_

_"Never?" Sazumi asked in horror._

_"Never," Sekihara-san said triumphantly._

_Sazumi sniffed and began to cry, though at the same time tried not to._

_"Hey, hey, I was joking! I swear…Oh, stop crying!" she exclaimed angrily._

_Sazumi began to cry louder, trying to stop the flow of tears with her fists._

_"Geez…" Sekihara-san sighed, putting her arm around Sazumi's shoulders, "Don't be such a baby. Even if you are two years younger than me."_

_After a while, Sazumi's tears subsided and she glanced warily up at the older girl. _

_"I want to go home," she said again._

_The girl frowned, "Well, you can't now. It's too dark out. In the morning you can, though! You can stay with me!"_

_Sazumi shook her head, "I have to go home," she said stubbornly._

_"You can't!" Sekihara-san said sounding angry all of the sudden, "You have to stay here otherwise the mean men will get you! You don't want that, do you?"_

_Sazumi shook her head slowly._

_"Well, then that's decided," she said cheerfully, "You can stay with me!" She gestured around the small room, "Hey, do you want some candy? I think I have some around here."_

_"I'm not supposed to take candy from strangers," Sazumi said quietly._

_"We're not strangers!" Sekihara-san argued, "I know your name and you know mine! See!"_

_Sazumi nodded hesitantly._

_The other girl beamed and began digging through her pile of clothes. The sleeves of her shirt rolled up and Sazumi saw huge bruises and half-healed cuts. She didn't say anything, but also took in her gashed knees and marked up shins._

_"Here we go," Sekihara-san said triumphantly, holding out a dented tin of what looked like hard candy. She opened it and handed Sazumi a few of the colored orbs. She stared at them for a few seconds and then put them in her mouth._

_"Good, huh!" Sekihara-san said. _

_Sazumi nodded._

_There was silence only interrupted by Sekihara-san, who was the kind of person who liked to chew hard candy._

_"Where are your parents, Sekihara-san?" Sazumi asked after a while. There was only one futon in the entire place._

_"They're at home," she said, "I only come here to get away from those nasty people."_

_"Won't they be worried when you don't come home?"_

_"Nope, they don't care!" Sekihara-san grinned, "I can do what I like!"_

_Sazumi shifted uncomfortably, rolling the candy around her mouth._

_"What about your parents?" the older girl asked._

_"Oh! They…I'm sure they'll be worried…I mean, I think…"_

_All the playfulness melted off Sekihara-san's face and she looked at Sazumi seriously, "Your parents don't want you, do they?" she said, sounding sad, "I understand, neither do mine. Well, my mother; I think she likes me…but…"_

_"That's not true," Sazumi said, defensively "They are busy…I mean…"_

_She gripped the flute hard in her hand and tried not to cry a second time._

_"Oooh!" Sekihara-san said, all sincerity gone, "Can you play that?"_

_Sazumi nodded, wiping her eyes._

_"Play for me tomorrow, okay? Not right now because then the mean people will find us."_

_"Sure, Sekihara-san," Sazumi said, happy that at least someone wanted to hear her play._

_"Don't call me that," she said, scowling, "That's what they call my father. Call me Yuuki."_

_"Yuuki…" Sazumi tried and smiled._

* * *

_A few weeks later, Sazumi came back late from Yuuki's hiding place; only minutes before her lesson was supposed to start. The maids scolded her for being so dirty and gave her a bath, but no one seemed to have noticed that she had not slept in her bed._

_Her tutor, a young woman in her early twenties, was annoyed at being forced to wait while Sazumi dressed and made her study more kanji than usual. _

_"I'm sorry, sensei," Sazumi said._

_"You should be," the woman sniffed haughtily, "If I had known you were going to be late then I could have finished…"_

_"What were you doing, sensei?" Sazumi asked curiously, looking up from her calligraphy._

_"That is none of your busin-"_

**_Sensei stood in a dark room with another person. Her tutor wasn't wearing a shirt and the man next to her had his arms around her, was kissing her, was-_**

_"-ay attention, Sazumi! Don't daydream."_

_Her tutor rapped her on the knuckles, startling her. Her eyes dropped down to her paper and she felt her cheeks burn. How embarrassing! Who was that man anyway?_

_"Is he your boyfriend, sensei?" Sazumi asked, after she gained enough courage to look at her teacher again._

_"Who?"_

_"The man you were kissing. Before you came here, I mean."_

_The woman spluttered and her face turned a bright red, "Ho-How did you find out about-"_

_"I just knew," Sazumi said and then frowned, "Is that bad?"_

_The woman just gaped at her._

_"Sensei?"_

_"The lesson is over," she said in an angry voice, gathered her things and left the room without a backward glance._

_Sazumi frowned in confusion and went to her room. She lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling._

_"Okaa-san, Otou-san," she whispered sadly, "Why don't you want me?" _

_There was no answer._

* * *

_One day, Sazumi went and sat by the canal. She watched the boats full of fisherman go by and felt lonesome. _

_"Hey! Sasumi! Hey!"_

_Sazumi turned around to see Yuuki running towards her, her long purple hair flying behind her. Her right eye was blackened and half shut. Sazumi frowned._

_"What happened to your eye?" she asked._

_Yuuki grinned, "I fell. Where's your flute? I thought you were going to play for me again."_

_"Sorry, I forgot it."_

_"S'okay."_

_A strong gust of wind blew, and Yuuki's hair was forced back, revealing her ears._

_Sazumi stared. Her ears were pointed at the top, making her look like some sort of mythical creature from a story book._

_"Your ears…!" Sazumi said, shocked, "Why are your ears so weird?"_

_Yuuki clapped her hands over them, "They're not weird," she said reproachfully._

_"But they're all pointy."_

_"You're the one who's weird," Yuuki shot back, "You wear all those weird clothes and your hair goes all the way down to your butt!"_

_Sazumi instinctively latched onto her long braid of hair that she had had as long as she could remember._

_"Why do you have hair that long anyway?" Yuuki asked curiously._

_"I don't know," she said shyly, "It's always been that way."_

_"It's going to rain soon," Yuuki said, looking up at the perpetually cloudy sky, "You wanna come over to my hiding spot again?"_

_Sazumi smiled bashfully and nodded._

* * *

_"Sazumi!" her mother called, "Sazumi!"_

_"Y-Yes?" Sazumi answered hopefully, coming to stand in front of her._

_"I'm leaving the house for a few days, alright? Tell anyone who calls for me that I'll be back within the week. And don't bother your father."_

_She turned and picked up her bag._

_"W-Wait!" Sasumi called after her, "Is…is that all?"_

_"Of course," her mother said frowning, "What else would there-"_

_"**I've got to get out!" her mother yelled at her father, "I'm sick and tired of your dead clan! I need a vacation!"**_

_"**You couldn't even give me a son!" he father shouted back, "One measly daughter before you're infertile! I never should have married you!"**_

**_Her mother's face contorted in anger, "Well, you never-"_**

_"Don't stare at me like that, it's rude," her mother told her, shaking her out of her reverie._

_"Okaa-san!" _

_"What is it, child?" She looked impatient._

_As Sazumi opened her mouth, there were so many things she could have said. Things like "Don't you care about me?" or "Do you wish I was a boy?" or even-_

_"Never mind," she said quietly, "Have a good trip. I'll-"_

_The door closed with a soft click._

_"-miss you."_

* * *

_A tear fell down Sazumi's cheek, "Okaa-san, Otou-san, don't you remember? Today's my birthday. I'm seven."_

* * *

_"It's not that bad," Yuuki muttered, "I heal pretty fast. I promise. It just looks gross."_

_Yuuki's face was covered cuts and was oozing blood._

_"Who keeps doing this to you?" Sazumi sobbed._

_"I told you," Yuuki says without looking at her, "I was at the docks and this big dog came and-"_

_"You're lying!" Sazumi said, "You're always lying!"_

_Yuuki paled, "No, I-"_

_"Who is it? Those people who chase you all the time?"_

_"No, it's not-"_

_"I'll find out who it is!" Sazumi said and grabbed the other girl's chin, forcing their eyes to meet._

_"**Why not?" Yuuki cried**_

_"**Don't be a fool, girl!" a man who looked startlingly like Yuuki snarled, "We can't have monsters like you as part of the force! You'd probably kill everyone on sight if you got the chance.**_

_"**No!" argued Yuuki, "I promise, I wouldn't. Can't you tell them, Otou-san, please! You're a Captain, they'd listen to you!"**_

_"**Stop bothering me!"**_

_"**Otou-san!"**_

_"**Yuuki," a frail voice from another room called, "Please don't argue with your father. Come in here and I'll-"**_

_"**No!" Yuuki yelled, "You always side with him! I hate you!"**_

_"**Be quiet, child!" her father yelled and backhanded her in the face.**_

**_Yuuki fell to the floor and moaned in pain._**

_"**No, dear!" the other voice called, "Please, don't hurt h-"**_

_Sazumi gasped and withdrew._

_"Your father!" she whispered._

_Yuuki's eyes widened, "How did you know that?"_

_"I just …see it," Sazumi said, "I've always been able see things."_

_"I…He didn't used to be like that," Yuuki said without emotion, "But then he started drinking and…I'm afraid of him. He hates me and Okaa-san."_

_"Yuuki," Sazumi said, grabbing her arm, "Why does everyone hate you? When we go outside people stare and they say mean things."_

_"I…I don't know," Yuuki said in a bewildered voice and then began to cry._

_"What did that man mean?" Sazumi asked Yuuki angrily._

_"Nothing," she said moodily, and unlocked the door of her hiding place, "Don't pay any attention to what those people say!"_

_"He called you a monster, Yuuki! Other adults say that too! Why-"_

_"Because I am one!" Yuuki screamed._

* * *

_"You're not a monster like me. Please don't hate me, Sasumi," Yuuki said brokenly._

_Sazumi couldn't even if she wanted to._

* * *

_"You're getting really good!" Yuuki said and Sazumi beamed, "What made you start?"_

_"My tutor told me to choose an instrument," Sazumi said, "and I picked the flute. It was hard at first. I always got dizzy!"_

_"I like hearing you play," Yuuki said, laying down in the grass. Sazumi joined her and they both stared at the sky._

_"Sasumi?" Yuuki asked hesitantly, "Why do you play the flute?"_

_Sazumi did not say anything for a long time._

_"I like to play," she said slowly, "it makes me forget."_

* * *

_She ran into Yuuki before dawn on the same bench they had met. She was crying softly and there was blood running down her face._

_"It's okay," Sazumi said, dabbing the blood away and crying herself, "It's okay, it's okay."_

_It wasn't._

* * *

_"What are those books, sensei?" Sazumi asked._

_Her teacher shoved them aside, "None of your business. Focus on your kanji."_

_Sazumi frowned and looked inside the woman's mind._

_**Mind reading…psychics…ancient Kekkai Genkai…pre-formation of the Five Great Countries…destroyed clan…Yamaki bloodline-**_

_"Yamaki bloodline?" she whispered unintentionally._

_Her teacher stiffened and glared down at her with a look of such intense hatred that Sazumi cowered._

_"Get out of my head, you little freak!"_

_She grabbed the books and left the room loudly. _

_Sazumi looked down at her paper covered in calligraphy, "What am I?" she whispered and touched the corner of her eye with a finger._

* * *

_Sazumi held the final note as long as she could and then lowered the flute, taking a deep breath. Yuuki burst into applause._

_"That was the best ever!" she said enthusiastically, "What is that song, I love it!" _

_"It's an old folk song, I think," Sazumi answered. _

_She felt slightly dizzy, but waved the feeling away._

_"What is it call-" Yuuki started, but the rest of her sentence was cut off by a series of heavy coughs._

_"Are you okay?" Sazumi asked concernedly, coming to sit next to her on the old futon, "What did he do to you?"_

_"It's nothing," Yuuki said, "Just spring allergies."_

_Sazumi's brow furrowed, "Demon holders get allergies?"_

_"Shut up," Yuuki said and then giggled._

_"I had better go now," Sazumi said, "It's starting to get dark out."_

_Yuuki sighed, "When I'm grown up and a ninja, you're going to come live with me, okay?"_

_"I thought they aren't letting you to become a ninja."_

_"I'll find a way somehow."_

_Sazumi smiled at her friend's determination, "See you tomorrow then."_

_They wouldn't see each other for another seven years. _

_When Sazumi got home there were masked men at the door. They grabbed her and tied her hands behind her back._

_"Let me go!" Sazumi cried._

_Her parents came into view and she called out to them, "Otou-san, make them stop! Okaa-san!"_

_Her parents stood there with stony expressions and made no move to help her. Instead, they looked angry._

_"You've shamed our name, monster child!" her father hissed._

_"Okaa-san!" Sazumi screamed, still struggling, "Okaa-san, please-"_

_"You're no child of mine!" her mother snarled, and they both turned their backs on her._

_"Wait!" Sazumi cried, tears beginning to fall, "Don't! Please! Otou-"_

_Then there was pain in her head and the world went black._

* * *

_"That's her…the Yamaki!"_

_"Monster…look at those eyes!"_

_"She and the demon girl; they should've been killed at birth!"_

_In the total darkness, Sazumi wrapped her needle marked arms around herself and pressed herself against the far end of her cell more firmly, trying to ignore the whispers._

* * *

_"Water," she gasped, holding onto the locked door with all her might, "Please, I'm so thirsty, so hungry."_

_They laughed at her._

* * *

_"Why don't you just tell us? Then we can all go home and forget all about this."_

_Sazumi retched and sagged against the chains. _

_"I told you," she whispered brokenly, sick dripping down her chin, "I don't know."_

_"Liar!" Yuuki's father snarled and hit her in the same way Sazumi had seen him hit his daughter, "Tell us."_

_"I. Don't. Know."_

_He straightened, face alive with malice, "Very well, give me the vial and hold open her mouth."_

_Sazumi screamed._

* * *

_Sazumi lay in a white bed, IV and wires wrapped around her body._

_"Her condition is stabilized for the moment," a doctor was saying, "But her body can't last anymore of this kind of experimentation without their being permanent damage. I suggest you-"_

_"If we want your opinion, we'll ask for it," a nasty voice said, cutting him off, "I don't care about her condition. We want her transported back to the compound by tomorrow. Do you understand me?"_

_There was a pause and Sazumi eyed a surgical knife lying on the mobile cabinet next to her bed._

_"Alright," the doctor said_

_It was her first and last suicide attempt._

* * *

_"We have no choice," Yuuki's father said, "Bring out everything."_

_Sazumi shivered against the manacles. To her horror, she saw men bringing in what looked like a portable furnace, knifes, and strange, sharp-looking instruments. _

_"Please," Sazumi croaked, shaking uncontrollably, "Please!"_

_"Why don't you just tell us?" a shorthaired woman asked, smiling maliciously, "Then we can all go home and forget all about this."_

_"I told you!" Sazumi sobbed, "I don't know anything! I swear-"_

_"Just not the face," Yuuki's father said, smirking, "We may need that later."_

* * *

_Sazumi lay on the floor of a straw covered cell. Light streamed through from a bared window. She stared at the stone wall, not thinking or feeling anything._

_"Hello," the guard who force-fed her called, "Special day today, huh?" _

_Sazumi gave no indication that she heard him._

_"Oh, but you probably don't know, do you? Today's your birthday. You're ten."_

_Sazumi turned her eyes towards him._

_"That's right, baby. You've been in here three years."_

_Sazumi's leg twitched involuntarily._

_"Are you scared, little girl? Don't worry, it's only going to get worse. Once you've grown up a bit," He licked his lips, "we'll have a lot of fun with you."_

_Suddenly, a feeling of disgust and anger filled Sazumi in a way it hadn't for months._

_Die, she thought angrily._

_Ten seconds later, her eyes blackened and he did._

* * *

_Sazumi stared for a while before it hit her. The seized up body of the guard had a ring of keys on his person. She slowly reached forward and grabbed them, savoring the feel of the cool metal against her burnt skin._

_She painfully pulled herself into an upright position and limped towards the door. She unlocked it, stepped out, and closed it behind her. _

_Sazumi limped down the tiled hall and opened a door apprehensively. It led to a set of stairs. Sazumi slowly walked down them, her legs burning from injuries and disuse. The rough rag dress she was wearing also caused problems, rubbing painfully against her inflamed skin. _

_She reached the bottom of the steps and opened the door. She cursed as she realized that she had gone too far down and that she was in the basement. _

_To her horror, she heard noises above her. Sazumi limped through the door and pressed herself against the wall outside, hoping the person wouldn't come all of the way down. _

_"What the-"_

_Sazumi turned to find two ANBU gaping at her._

_"Shit! How did she get out!"_

_"Quick grab her!"_

_"Go away," she said._

_She left their bodies on the ground._

_Others heard their screams and came rushing. Sazumi turned her eyes on them as she walked back up the stairs. When she reached the main floor there were more. They all cried out in anger and she killed them._

_A blur went past her, and before she could reacts, she had been grabbed from behind._

_"Monster!" the familiar voice hissed, "Freak."_

_Sazumi cried out as Yuuki's father broke her left arm with a painful blow._

_She turned and look him right in the eye and then he was gone._

_"Ah!" she cried and held her hands to both eyes, which had begun to burn inexplicably. But the pain went as soon as it had come and she was alone in a room filled with dead bodies._

_Sazumi made for the door and ran. People stared as she went past and she did not stop running until she reached the walls. She slid through, hiding among a bunch of travelers and ran to the woods. _

_She didn't know how many hours she ran, but it was before noon when she stumbled and fell into a stream. It carried her away and she blacked out._

_When she awoke next, it was dark out, and she was lying in the shallows. Pain came with every movement, but she dragged herself out of the water and into some tall grass. She wrapped her unbroken arm around herself and shivered._

_In the morning, she drank from the stream and ate some berries from a bush. She looked down at her reflection in wonder. She had not seen what she looked like since she was seven. In awe, she traced her nose, cheekbones and finally eyes. Her hair, which had been chopped off years before, was shoulder length now and dirty. _

_She then set off, following the stream until she found a road. Sazumi reached a village soon afterwards and found that she was in the Grass. She stole an oversized shirt, bandages, and some sandals. She wrapped her arms, legs, and neck in bandages and then moved on._

* * *

_Sazumi held out a cup with her right hand and sat against the wall, watching as the people walked by. Most of them ignored her, but some threw in coins. Sazumi hated this city and once she had enough money, she was leaving._

_Entering the Fire Country scared her. She had seen it on a map and its size was intimidating. She hid as she saw figures coming down the path, going in the opposite direction as her._

_"…strange people, those Konoha ninja," one was saying to the other, "It was certainly an experience, visiting Konoha was."_

_"Isn't that village supposed to be hidden?" his companion asked, "Where is it anyway?"_

_"Oh, northwest of here, I'd say. But, seriously, some of the people there were…"_

_The rest of the conversation was lost as they moved farther away from her, but Sazumi did not particularly care._

* * *

_There was a flute on sale at a shop in Konoha and Sazumi wanted it. She had been working in a restaurant kitchen for some time now, but she could barely afford her tiny apartment. Sazumi turned away from the display case and winced as her left arm began to burn. _

_A few ninja went into the shop and Sazumi watched them closely, remembering an enthusiastic girl and her hidden room._

* * *

_"Name?" the teacher at the ninja academy asked, pen ready to write it down on her application._

_Sazumi hesitated. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blond haired boy sticking his tongue out at another teacher, who then began to reprimand him._

_"Name?" the teacher asked again, looking bored._

_"Yamaki," she said after a moments contemplation, "Yamaki Sasumi." _

**A/N: Woah, long chapter…took me forever to write too. I'd had this chapter in mind for a while, but it came out a lot more violent than I thought it would be. The torture scenes actually disturbed me ****a little. I hope it wasn't too much (or too melodramatic...)**

**Anyway, there will be 1 to 2 more chapters, I think. And then maybe an epilogue. Wow, it's so weird to think that this fic's almost over…It's been nearly two years**** since I first started writing this. **

**So thank my amazing beta Torquad333 and please review!**


	29. Tempest Clearing

Chapter Twenty-Eight-

**If Yuuki had been less angry and more aware**, she probably would've noticed how pathetic her old friend looked. She would've have noticed the empty left sleeve and how scrawny she was. She would've noticed the dark circles under her eyes and sickly pallor. She might even have wondered about all the bandages.

But Yuuki didn't focus on that. Instead, she focused on how exactly she was going to kill the girl.

"I thought you might say that," Modoka said.

She sounded weak and Yuuki sneered at her.

"Who the hell are you?" her Konohan companion snarled. His eyes were a strange red, she noted. Red with black dots…Her eyes widened. The Sharingan! Then this boy was an Uchiha! She had learned about them, of course. But hadn't the books said that that clan had been wiped out several years ago?

Whatever. That didn't matter. If he got in her way, she would eliminate him.

"None of your business," she told him and leapt from the roof. She landed on the ground several meters from them. The Uchiha tensed and drew a few kunai, but Modoka held her hand out.

"Don't," she told him, not breaking eye contact with her, "This doesn't involve you."

"What?" he hissed, but Yuuki's extra sensitive ears caught it anyway, "Sasumi, you're not well enough to-"

The name did it. That reminder of what had been and the gall, the_ gall,_ of Modoka to use it. Yuuki launched herself towards her and bowled her over before either of them could blink. Modoka attempted the draw a kunai, but Yuuki grabbed her arm and pinned it to the ground. It was only then that she realized that Modoka only had one arm.

"Is that all you can do?" she sneered down at her, annoyed that Modoka's face was still blank, wanting to bait her into showing some emotion, "Ch, you've always been weak."

"Whatever you say, Yuuki," she replied, quite calmly.

Anger flared inside her and she punched Modoka in the face, bloodying her nose. The Uchiha's eyes widened and he ran towards her, but she was too quick for him.

"_Katon: Housenka_!"

Her sight of him was obscured by flames, but Yuuki frankly didn't give a damn. Modoka went rigid.

"Uchiha-san!" she cried and tried to get up.

"Don't move," Yuuki told her viciously, holding a kunai under her chin.

Sasumi…no, _Modoka_ narrowed her eyes a little. Finally a reaction.

"Are you going to kill me, Yuuki?" she asked tightly.

"_Yes_," Yuuki breathed, "You deserve it, you little shit!"

She punched her again, just for good measure.

"You killed…you killed," Yuuki is so mad she cannot even speak.

"Your father," Modoka said, perfectly calm again, "Yes, I did. I won't deny it."

"Idiot," Yuuki snarled, her hands shaking, "It's not about that. I couldn't care less about the bastard."

Modoka frowned, "What are you talking abou-"

"Get away from her!"

Yuuki looked up to see the Uchiha boy again. Persistent brat. She leapt out of the way of several shuriken and threw a flying kick at his head. He blocked her and she saw his red eyes whirl.

"_Alright, _beast_,"_ she thought, _"Let's go!"_

The six-tailed demon inside of her purred in delight and Yuuki felt the familiar surge of pure _power _flood through her. Her eyes turned a eerie amber and her nails elongated. She felt fangs sprout and every hair on her body stand on end. Uchiha's mouth dropped open and he stared.

"You are…" he muttered, glancing at Modoka, "a jinchuuriki?"It pissed her off that he was asking Modoka instead of her, and her fury only heightened when she saw Modoka nod.

"That's right," she laughed, "A monster, a demon, whatever you like!"

The boy gave her a wary look, but for some reason seemed reluctant to attack. Was he…no, he wasn't afraid of her, she could tell. Then why…?

"Uchiha-san, don't," Modoka murmured, pulling herself up. Yuuki looked her over in disgust.

"Don't give me that," the boy said harshly, still keeping his eyes on her.

"Actually, she's right," Yuuki spat, "My fight's not with you. Back off."

"Like _hell_."

"You needn't get involved," the other girl said softly and Yuuki flinched. She hadn't changed much, had she? Still the same old doormat as-

No, she would not think about that! She had sworn she would finish this, even if it killed her.

She slashed out with her kunai, catching Modoka in the stomach. The other girl hissed in pain and flipped backwards, holding her abdomen with her only arm as it seeped red.

"Sasumi!" the boy cried and launched at her.

Yuuki dodged two kicks and then delivered a powerful blow to the crown of his head. He managed to dodge it somewhat, but she still clipped him and he fell to the ground, clutching his head. She raised her arm to strike the finishing blow, but was forced to dodge several shuriken.

"I said, it doesn't involve him!" Modoka said, a trace of anger on her unexpressive features.

"Hmph, alright then," Yuuki smirked and without a trace of remorse, broke the other girl's ribs.

Modoka's mouth fell open and she gasped, her knees hitting the ground with a thud that was music to her ears. She didn't move, though. Made no indication of an escape attempt.

"I don't care what you do to me," she murmured, "Just don't hurt my teammates."

Yuuki snarled and hauled her up by the collar of her shirt, "Shut _up_! Damn you, don't try and be all self-sacrificing, because I know you're not!"

Sasum-_Modoka_ gave a snort of disgust, "I guess you did always know me the best."

Yuuki hit her again and this time her nose broke, "Don't you _dare_ talk to me like that, you bitch! I'm going…I'm going to kill you!"

Modoka's expression did not changed even as blood ran down her visage. Suddenly, a sense of freedom filled her. This was not the Sasumi, the little girl she had known as a child. This was merely a shell of the person she had once been. Yuuki could do it now. She could kill her. She raised her hand and-

"Let her go."

Yuuki turned in annoyance to see another Konohan ninja, about the same age a the Uchiha and Modoka. He had blond hair and round blue eyes. He wore an orange shirt under his Chuunin vest.

Yuuki sneered, "Piss off, human. Don't make me kill you too."

His eyes narrowed and he looked from Modoka to Uchiha's unconscious body.

"Uzumaki-san," Modoka said softly, "It's okay, don-"

"_Shut_ up!" Yuuki hissed, backhanding her.

The blond went wide-eyed and then hissed in anger, "You bitch, drop her!"

Yuuki inwardly groaned and did what she was told. For a second he looked surprised, but then narrowed his eyes and dodged her front kick. He threw a kunai, but she countered it with several senbon. He hissed in pain as several pierced his arm and pulled them out. Yuuki snarled and let the demon's chakra in her system again. She wanted this over with now; there was no point in holding back.

"Back off, kid," she said, her voice low and threatening, "You're fighting a _demon_, now. Don't bother me if you want to live."

The boy did not look scared or even unresolved like the Uchiha had. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Yuuki demanded.

"Sorry," he said grinning, "It's just that that's the second time I've heard that. And…" his expression went serious all of the sudden.

"And?" Yuuki asked despite herself.

"Sorry, but you probably shouldn't fight me," he said, "I probably…"

Yuuki's eyes widened as his eyes flashed red and marks that she hadn't noticed before in the dim light began to thicken.

"…have more tails than you."

"You're…!"

"The same as you. Funny how things work out."

Yuuki turned and glanced at Modoka, whose eyes were sad.

"Bring it," the holder of the Rokubi hissed, drawing her wakizashi. The boy dropped to a fighting stance, fangs sprouting and pupils turning into slits. Yuuki ran at him, brandishing her blade-

But suddenly there was a gray-haired man between them and a seal on her forehead. Yuuki hissed in anger as the demon's chakra disappeared. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Modoka's confused face.

"**I'm fine,"**Sasumi muttered, as several medics surrounded her, "Leave me alone."

They didn't listen, of course, and laid her out on a stretcher. In the distance, she could see Sasuke's unconscious form in the same boat. Kakashi and Naruto were yelling at each other and it looked like the fires had been put out.

"_That's good," _she thought and turned her head away.

She watched, quite emotionlessly, as Yuuki's hands and feet were tied together. They hauled her away and Sasumi lost consciousness as well.

When she woke, it was light out and her nose and ribs were healed. She was lying in a bed in…where was this? A hospital? She sat up. The room looked familiar. The this was-

Sasumi threw herself out of bed and slammed herself against the wall. She had knocked over a movable cart and metal instruments clattered as they hit the floor. Sasumi choked and inched towards the door, a mantra of _"Get out, get out!" _revolving in her head. She had to get out of this hospital; she had been here before.

But before she could leave, the door burst open and people flooded in.

"Sasumi!" Naruto exclaimed, "What are you doing you shouldn't be…up…"

He trailed off and it was only then that Sasumi realized that she was only wearing a tank top and shorts, and that a majority of her scars and burns were exposed.

"Get me out of here," she said through gritted teeth, trying not to shake.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked. He, Naruto, Kakashi, and several nurses who had entered looked confused.

"I've been here before," she said, pressing herself as far away from the bed as humanly possible, "I want to get out."

"Oh," Kakashi said simply.

He grabbed her arm and escorted her out of the room, and down the sun filled hallway. Naruto and Sasuke followed, stopping hospital personal from getting in their way. After what seemed like forever, they walked out the back entrance in an alley behind the hospital. Sasumi yanked her remaining arm out of Kakashi's grip and threw up next to the dumpsters.

"Ano…Sasumi…" Naruto said carefully, "Here are your clothes…"

Sasumi ignored him and shook, "I…that place…I…!"

"You don't have to say anything," Sasuke murmured, but Sasumi disregarded him as well.

"I…I tried to…to kill myself in that place!" She choked in shame on the words, but knew she had to get them out.

She reached up and rubbed a deep scar on the side of her neck, one which was not caused by her torturers. At least directly.

None of them say anything and Sasumi doesn't blame them. It takes her several minutes for her to get herself together, and when she does she takes her clothes. She puts them on and apologizes for her outburst politely, but does not look them in the eye. She cannot bear to see the pity there.

"Yuuki is…?" she asked Kakashi quietly.

"Sekihara Yuuki has been imprisoned for the time being. We have reasons to believe that she started the revolt."

Sasumi said nothing.

They went back to their hotel room, and at noon they ordered lunch, instead of going out to eat. Sasumi was grateful for it and ate even though she was not hungry. A few hours after lunch, there was a knock on the door. Kakashi was not in the room. Sasuke opened the door to the familiar figures of the Konoha ANBU.

"We need to speak to Yamaki Sasumi," they said, but something was off. They seemed awkward and out of place. They had never been this way before.

"Yes?" Sasumi said quietly.

One shifted from one foot to the other, "Er…" he said, "This might be a little private…" He eyed the rest of her teammates.

Sasumi shook her head, "It doesn't matter."

The woman next to him swallowed, "In looking through the Rain's old files. We found," she hesitated, "We found a report filed on the deaths of…of…"

"Modoka Ayano and Naoki," the man said, "They appeared to have died in a fire two and a half years ago."

Naruto gasped and Sasumi's stomach turned to ice, "Oh," she heard herself say.

The ANBU looked even more uncomfortable at her reaction, "Their grave," the woman said embarrassedly, "is in the cemetery behind the village walls. Our superior says you have permission to go there…if you wish."

"You have our condolences," they said politely and bowed.

The door swung shut and her teammates stared at her.

"C'mon," Naruto said sadly after a long while, tugging on her arm, "We have to go."

Sasumi didn't bother protesting and let them take her through the city, the checkpoints, out into the meadows where she and Yuuki had played when they were young. They entered the graveyard and it took a half hour for them to find her family grave.

"Oh," Naruto murmured, "We forgot incense and food."

"I don't care, you know," Sasumi said stoically, staring at the two names on the stone post.

"What?" Sasuke asked harshly, "What did you say?"

"I said I don't care," she repeated, not thinking about the consequences, "I'm glad they're dead."

There was a blow to her jaw and it took her several seconds to realize that Sasuke had just punched her.

"You-!" he snarled, "How can you say such a-'

"Easily," she replied, "I'm not like you, Uchiha-san."

For a second, Sasumi thought he would hit her again, but he throws her a glare and walks off.

"Sasumi," Naruto said coldly, "You shouldn't say things like that."

"It's the truth."

He gave her a look of disgust and left too, leaving Sasumi alone.

The sun was setting by the time she reentered the village. She wandered the streets she knew so well for a while, not wanting to return to their hotel room. She was walking over a bridge when she saw her. She was older now, of course, but was still recognizable. The woman froze as she recognized her.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, _sensei_?" Sasumi said softly.

The woman whimpered and then ran off in the opposite direction.

Sasumi walked on.

"**Where is she?" **Kakashi-sensei was asking angrily, "You just left her there?"

"You didn't hear her," Sasuke hissed back, "Saying all this shit!"

"She's under a lot of stress right now," Kakashi-sensei said, "I thought you two would understand that and put your personal feelings behind you!"

"But, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto interjected, angry that he was taking her side, "She was saying that she didn't care that her parents were dead! Her _parents_!"

"Do you know her parents?" he asked, "Don't judge what you don't understand! I'm sure Sasumi has a good reason."

"How can you have a good reason for being glad that your parents are dead?" Sasuke demanded, but Naruto wasn't listening.

He was remembering what Sasumi had told them in the Sand…

"_I had parents!" _she had told them,_ "I had them and they weren't like yours. They didn't die shortly after I was born and they weren't killed in a massacre. In fact, as far as I know, they're still alive. And they betrayed me. Sold me out. That's all there is to it."_

"Shit," Naruto whispered, mostly to himself, "We have to find her!"

They spread out, but they couldn't find any trace of her. A few shinobi had seen her in the village, proving that she at least came back into the village. It was getting dark and Naruto was starting to panic.

"Where would she go?" he asked, "We've looked at her old house, the graveyard, everywhere that makes any sense!"

"Then look in places that don't make sense," Kakashi-sensei said tensely.

"Like where?" Naruto demanded as their teacher disappeared in a puff of smoke, "How are we supposed to-"

"Wait," Sasuke said. He had a funny look on his face, "I think I know where she went."

They had to ask a few people where it was, and nobody seemed keen on talking about it. The sun had set by the time they reached the old decrypt building with broken windows and holed up roof.

"The old ANBU headquarters, Sasuke?" Naruto said nervously, "Are you sure?"

Sasuke didn't answer and they pushed open the door, which was strangely unlocked.

"Told you," Sasuke said, "Someone's been here."

The lobby was completely gutted to the point that there was hardly anywhere to walk. Fallen beams and shattered glass littered the ground, and Naruto cut his foot as they walked to the stairwell.

"Well?" he said, looking expectantly at Sasuke, "Up or down?"

"Down," Sasuke said determinedly and they walked down the dark and winding stairwell.

"Sasumi?" Naruto kept calling, "Are you there? Sasumi?"

Finally, after ten minutes, she replied.

"Over here."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and then pushed open the door of the fifth floor below the surface.

There was a light coming from the door at the end of the long hallway and Naruto pushed it open. For a second, Naruto could barely see because of the blinding light. There were several glowing orbs floating in mid air around Sasumi, who was sitting in the middle of the room that was empty except for…the chains on the wall? Naruto swallowed and felt sick.

Sasumi sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. She had taken off the bandages on her arms and legs, and her neck warmer. Her scars glinted eerily in the light.

"Sasumi," Sasuke said, looking around, "What is this jutsu?"

"Just something I stole," she aid, sounding quite miserable about it, "I'm a Lightening type too, you know. Lightening and Earth."

"Don't Lightening and Earth contradict each other?" Naruto asked, remembering a conversation with Ero-sennin.

"Yes," she said, "That's why it's so dangerous."

"I'm sorry, Sasu-" Naruto started but Sasumi cut him off.

"Don't," she said, "It doesn't matter."

It did, but Naruto didn't say anything. Beside him, Sasuke shifted uneasily.

"Here," Sasumi muttered reaching out an placing her palm flat on the ground in front of her, "And there," she pointed to one of the sets of chains on the wall, "That's where I was."

She sounded as if she didn't believe it herself.

"It's funny," she muttered, "I thought it would seem smaller. Because I'd grown, you know? But I guess I haven't grown that much. I probably never will."

Naruto knelt beside her and put his hand on her scarred shoulder, the one with no arm attached to it. She flinched noticeably.

"We're really sorry, Sasumi," Naruto whispered, "We shouldn't have-"

The lights went out and Sasumi burst into tears.

"**Sorry," **Sasumi murmured, rubbing her eyes.

"Don't apologize," Sasuke said gruffly, "You're always apologizing."

"Sorry."

"Sasumi," Naruto said exasperatedly.

Sasuke saw her looked up hesitantly at Naruto in the darkness. He sighed.

"C'mon, let's go back," he said.

"Alright," she said and stood.

They walked silently up the dark stairwell. Sasuke had half a mind to light a torch or something, but refrained.

However, the tranquility was not to last. Naruto was the first to reach the main floor, and when he did, he gasped.

"What?" Sasuke said frowning, "What is it?"

He and Sasumi came up and Sasuke felt like someone had poured cold water over him. The dark-skinned girl that had attacked them the night before stood there. The older girl that Sasumi had called 'Yuuki.' She was breathing heavily and had a multitude of cuts over her body. Her wrists appeared to have been handcuffed, but she had ripped them off with sheer brute force.

"You won't escape this time!" she hissed.

Sasuke drew several kunai, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto do the same. Sasumi, however, did not.

"Why do you want to kill me?" she asked without emotion, "I killed your father, yes. But you don't seem to care about that, do you?"

"You dare-"

"Tell me!"

Sasuke looked at Sasumi in surprise. Her voice was firm and determined, something that had been noticeably missing the previous night.

"She fell apart, you know," the jinchuuriki hissed, "after he died. Just fell apart. Six months after you killed him, she died!"

Sasuke blinked in confusion. He didn't understand what she was talking about…unless…she was talking about her mother?

"And you blame me for that?" Sasumi said stoically.

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed, "If you hadn't-"

"How dare you," Sasumi whispered and she drew a kunai. Sasuke stared as her eyes bled black and she began to shake with anger, "H-How…"

She threw herself at the jinchuuriki and their blades clashed. Sparks flew and he and Naruto could only watch in amazement as Sasumi's face contorted in anger.

"How dare you?!" she snarled, "You know what I went through!?"

The girl's wakizashi nearly sliced off her head, but she did not seem to care.

"Look at me, Yuuki!" Sasumi roared, ripping off the bandages on her arm and legs, "Look what's become of me!"

The combination of her black, empty eyes, and furious expression was a fearsome sight. A part of Sasuke screamed at him to _do_ something, but he couldn't move.

The redhead threw a front kick and jabbed her elbow into the Rokubi's collarbone, taking advantage of her shock.

"_You_," Sasumi snarled fisting the collar of her shirt, looking feral, "cannot possibly know what I went through! How _dare_ you accuse me of things I didn't do!"

'Yuuki' punched her in the face and Sasumi was slammed against the wall of the rotting building.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he made to attack, but Sasumi stopped him.

"Don't," she said furiously, submissive no longer, "this is my fight!"

The jinchuuriki, who's eyes had changed color and fingernails sharpened, grabbed Sasumi by the collar of her shirt for the second time.

"And then you just left, you coward!" she screamed, "Left and-!"

But the anger had faded off Sasumi's face and a slightly bewildered look took its place.

"Yuuki," she said softly, "you missed me?"

The older girl hissed and gathered a ball of energy in her left hand. Beside him, Naruto cried out a warning, but it was drowned out by the explosion that followed.

"Sasumi!" Sasuke shouted even though the he was forced to inhale a huge cloud of dust. He choked and heard Naruto grunt in pain as he was hit with some debris.

There were a few seconds that Sasuke was sure that Sasumi was dead, but then the dust clears and he saw that Sasumi had dodged out of the way. There was a huge hole in the wall and several more wooden beams had fallen from the ceiling.

"**Shut up!" **Yuuki screamed, throwing several senbon at her, "Just shut up!"

"Yuuki," Sasumi gaped, staring at her old friend, "You-"

"I said, shut up!"

"Yuuki," Sasumi repeated, "I'm sorry."

"You…what?" She stared at her.

Sasumi stood and bowed as low as she could go without falling, "I'm sorry."

"You…you," Yuuki hissed, "You think you can just…"

Sasumi made no move to raise her head.

"Stop that!" Yuuki screamed and Sasumi chocked back a cry of pain and the purple haired girl kneed her in the chest, "I said stop that.

Sasumi fell to her knees, but did not raise her head. She spat out a bit of blood and forced her voice to become calm.

"I'm sorry."

There was a long silence.

"I hate you," Yuuki said angrily, and Sasumi looked up to find tears in her eyes, "Hate you!"

"I'm sorry," Sasumi repeated, "I'm so sorry."

Yuuki put her hands in her head and sobbed, and Sasumi knew it was alright. She turned to Naruto's and Sasuke's bewildered faces and smiled.

"It's okay now," she said, simply, when Kakashi and the other shinobi arrived, "Everything is alright."

**A/N: Oh, the drama! Er…I just hope it wasn't **_**too **_**melodramatic. And I hope the ending wasn't too abrupt, either...**

**And, argh, it's almost over! Just the epilogue, which will be really short! I can't believe it! Two years went by so fast! **

**If you have any questions or comments please review! This will be your second to last chance! Special thanks to Torquad333.**


	30. Epilogue

Epilogue-

"…and that was how I became a Jounin!" Yuuki finished her story with a flourish and a grin.

"…you broke your sensei's nose?" Sasumi asked, deadpanned.

"Noo! I demolished the office building in one punch! Were you listening at all?"

Sasumi let a small smile appear on her face and leaned back into the grass, closing her eyes and taking advantage of the sun's unusual appearance.

"Do you remember?" she murmured, "When I used to play the flute here for you? Seven years ago, huh?

"Yeah," Yuuki replied, "Of course. How could I forget? We were such brats back then."

There was a long silence and a breeze blew through the mountains far behind them, causing an eerie high-pitched noise.

"D-D'you still play?" Yuuki asked, looking down at her.

"No," Sasumi said calmly, "With one arm it's impossible."

"I'm sorry," Yuuki murmured, "I shouldn't have-"

"Don't apologize," Sasumi said sharply, "I don't need it anymore."

Yuuki looked confused for a few seconds and then her face broke into a grin.

"You're so _weird_," she said, laughing softly, and put her arm over her eyes so Sasumi couldn't see the tears.

"Yuuki-" Sasumi started, shocked and uncertain.

And then, as if on cue, a cloud passed over the sun and it began to rain.

They ran back to the village as if children again and Sasumi laughed, laughed _hard_, for the first time in seven years. She also cried, but between the laughing and the raining, neither of them could tell.

"Are you _crazy_?" Naruto demanded of Sasumi, when they returned sopping wet to the hotel room, "Running around in the rain when you're injured…why don't you just throw yourself off a cliff an be done with it!?"

"Oi," Yuuki said, clearly insulted, "Watch it, brat!"

A vein in Naruto's forehead throbbed, "You watch it, you crazy purple-haired bitc-"

And so the holder of the Kyuubi and Rokubi had their epic fight of the century, which mostly consisted of insults (on Naruto's part) and flicked water (on Yuuki's part.)

"Not nearly as interesting as the fight between him and Gaara," Sasuke said disdainfully. Though the look of amusement on his face ruined the effect.

Kakashi walked in just when Yuuki shook all the water off of her like a dog, spraying all of them.

"Alright!" Naruto roars, drawing several shuriken, "It's on, bitch!"

"Bring it, blondie!"

"Ano…" Kakashi said pleadingly, "Can't you two just get alo-"

"NO!" was the shouted reply.

By the end of it all, the entire room was covered in weapons, the low table in the center was a mere crisp, and Sasumi didn't give a damn.

People stared in the streets. They muttered disparaging things about both Sasumi and her jinchuuriki friend, and it was uncomfortable for her. The strange thing was that she and Sasuke were the only ones who appeared to care. The Uchiha heir also found it strange, but neither Yuuki nor Naruto seemed to notice. Sasumi wasn't sure whether they actually didn't realize that rumors were flying or if they were just ignoring them. She suspected it was the latter; both certainly had accumulated a lot of practice.

It could bother her, the things they were saying. All the nasty things about her being a murderer and a freak. The whispers about Yuuki too. But she didn't let it, because she could too be strong without using her bloodline as a crutch.

Two weeks passed, full of rebuilding the village with her teammates and sessions full of nostalgia with Yuuki under the stars. They talked and talked and talked, trying to make up for seven lost years. It would never happen, but Sasumi could try.

Things would never be perfect or exactly the same as they were. Sasumi could not stay in the Rain just as Yuuki could not leave. Yuuki didn't have to tell her this, she simply knew. And that was okay. That was all that mattered, right? Not perfect, not great, but okay. And Sasumi had not been lying when she had said that everything was alright.

At last, the orders came and all the Chuunin were being sent back to Konoha. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke stood off to the side as she said goodbye to Yuuki, for what could very well be the last time.

"I'll miss you," Yuuki said with a smile, ruffling her hair just like she had done all those years ago, "Come and visit again, nee?"

"It'll be your turn to visit next time," Sasumi replied and let the corners of her mouth twitch upwards a bit. She didn't say that she would never enter the village again. She suspected Yuuki knew this already.

"Sure, whenever, I'm free," she grinned.

"Bye," Sasumi started to say, but for some reason she couldn't get the word out fully.

"See you later," Yuuki said admonishingly, "Never goodbye, okay?"

Sasumi closed her eyes and smiled, "Okay.

Even though she can never be as determined as Naruto, as much of a genius as Sasuke, as smart as Shikamaru, as wise as Kakashi, or as kind as Hanada-san, Yuuki has taught her that she might be worth something after all. And Sasumi will always be eternally grateful.

"I can't wait to get back," Naruto was saying in excitement, as they walked down the long through the gate, "Ero-sennin said something about teaching me this new awesome technique called 'rasenkan' or something, so watch out, bastard!"

"Hmph, right," Sasuke snorted.

Kakashi seemed to be smiling behind the mask and Sasumi turned to wave one last time to her old friend before she disappeared behind a corner.

For now, everything was fine. For now. The future appeared to be dark, with Akatsuki on the rise, and more and more traces of them being found in the Rain everyday. There was still the matter of the Kyuubi and the other jinchuuriki, and of Uchiha Itachi who's secret she must never tell. But for now, Sasumi was content with the life she lived. And honestly, what else could she ask for?

--

A long way away, in a far off country, a young mother nursed her newborn baby, cooing over it's soft curls and pressing kisses to it's nose and forehead. The child giggled and raised it's arms up to the heavens.

"Shhh," she whispered, "Time to go to sleep now, honey. Mommy will play with you tomorrow, okay?"

She placed the baby in it's cradle and rocked it back and forth in a soothing manner. After a certain period of time she became certain that it was asleep, and tiptoed out of the room, turning her thoughts to other mediocrities of life.

And then, in the darkness...just for a second...the baby's eyes glowed _black_.

-End-

**A/N: Wow…I can't believe it's over. Two years (exactly, mind you) to the day that I published the first chapter. Yes, I postponed writing this just so I could post it today. I'm a perfectionist, I know.**

**First, I want to thank all my reviewers: anniert, Pocky Obsession, psalmofsummer, EvilMoogleGirl, Gao Yun Yun, Kiyoshi Kozue, Kitsunekilala, Ryuukari, Animealover, ****AkaiTrixxterShiruba, IAmAurora, White Alchemist Taya, Zoey24, SashaS, sandaime23, Baka Hanyou Raevyn, notBald, heather, Barranca, Bob, stuckinabottle, Azalie-Kauriu, Marz1, rifleman101, Cici Linne, frytrix, nautikitti, ScholarCOTA, the. wilted. flower., Yukiko Tsukishirou, vnienhuis, d, Laur3 Sincl4ir, buhahahahah ;), Dramil, JazzmizFTW, lovingsora, Rika-chan 14, hillre, ., khearu, RobotPirateNinja, Sage, roxxihearts, red clouds, Diabolical Marionettenspieler, firedroplet, Her Harlequin, EyeOfTheBlizzard, Mandya1313, Rasendori, sunshineemomix, Bloodypassion, The-Trapped-Phoenix, and Windschild8178. **

**(I think I have all of you here and if I don't or have misspelled your name I beg your forgiveness.)**

**You guys really inspired me to write more and to better my writing. Thank you so much for having patience with my long, complicated plots, and mediocre grammar. I always try to fix stuff like that before it gets posted, but some mistakes always manage to slip through. Thanks to everyone who offered constructive criticism especially. If not for you, Shi no Me would have been very different, and definitely worse off. **

**Also, in TONFA's Fan Ninja Bingo Book category, I have posted the bios of my three main OCs: Sasumi, Yuuki, and Michiko. Here's the link (it's also in my profile) so please check them out! Please remember to remove the spaces. **

**http: //narutofic. org/ viewstory. php? sid=8916**

**As the first chaptered fic I have actually finished, Shi no Me has taught me a lot about writing and hopefully will help my writing in the future.**

**Of course, much of the credit goes to my two betas Sleeping Soundly and Torquad333. Thanks so much for all your help!**

**And everyone, lurkers and those who've reviewed every chapter, please press the purple button and REVIEW!**

**-Zephyras**


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